Does the world have the stomach to confront Syria?

First, the assassination of Hariri, now the news that the Syrians are still active in Lebanon.

Syria's embattled leadership faced further diplomatic pressure yesterday after a United Nations special envoy accused it of defying the world body by failing to end all military and security activity in Lebanon.

While Damascus claimed to have severed all military links with its small neighbour, a UN assessment, leaked to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, said that Syrian influence had simply been driven underground. The assessment, by Terje Roed-Larsen, said that Syria continued to smuggle weapons to various militias in Lebanon that were willing to do its bidding.

Intelligence work also continued, with Syrian proxies in Lebanon taking orders from Damascus.

That was a clear breach of Security Council resolution 1559, which demanded Syria's full withdrawal of its military and security personnel from Lebanon and an end to its meddling. The report is expected to add to the pressure on Syria following last week's publication of another UN report into the murder of Rafik Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister, in Beirut on Feb 14.