When the going gets tough, the tough get going ... to Damascus. Apparently unhappy with Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah's direction, Syrian intelligence has whisked the Hezbollah leader to Syria for a series of meetings. Coming as it does on the heels of Nasrallah's own admission of severe blows to his efforts, one has to wonder whether Nasrallah will return to Lebanon:

Hizbullah head Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah is currently in Damascus, the Kuwait based a-Siasa newspaper reported Thursday. Nasrallah was apparently taken to Damascus by Syrian intelligence for a series of meetings.

According to the report, Nasrallah is scheduled to meet with Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani and perhaps with Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Nasrallah has to answer to his two major patrons, and the indications so far would be that the conversation will be "frank and open" -- diplo-speak for a butt-chewing. Commanders do not often leave a war theater for consultations when operations run smoothly; those who wish to consult come to the commander instead. Otherwise, it risks disrupting the operational flow of a successful campaign. Obviously, Syria and Iran do not consider Hezbollah's performance to fall into that category.

One has to wonder why Ali Larijani wants to meet with Nasrallah. Larijani has enough on his plate handling the Iranian nuclear-technology portfolio without getting entangled in the events of southern Lebanon. In fact, Iran should want to see as little linkage between the two as possible. Has Nasrallah asked for more potent warheads on the missiles he intends to fire at Tel Aviv, or has Larijani suddenly become the 'fixer' of the Ahmadinejad regime?

Certainly, Hezbollah troops have to question the timing of this field trip. As the Israelis continue targeting Hezbollah offices and command centers, suddenly Nasrallah has to attend meetings hundreds of miles from the fighting. If one didn't already know about the Islamofascists' courage in attacking schoolgirls and falafel stands, one could conclude that Nasrallah and the rest of the Hezbollah leadership still above room temperature had a bit of a yellow streak.

UPDATE: Apparently, Rush has read something from this post on the air according to commenters, and may not have credited me. I'm fine with that, if that's what happened. He credits me often enough that if he didn't today, I know it was a pure oversight. Besides, Rush has done plenty for me, and I'm honored to be on his reading list.

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