For decades Damascus has been dreaming of a Greater Syria that includes Lebanon.
But other Salafist groups, such as Jabhat an-Nusra (Salvation Front) and Ahrar al-Sham (the Liberation of Greater Syria), are less tolerant.
Aside from its southern border with Israel, Lebanon is entirely surrounded by Syria, and was considered part of "greater Syria" until the end of World War I.
It could also reflect the Obama administration's continued discomfort with the greater involvement in Syria, where it has expressed deep reservations over most of the military options currently being considered.
Donor countries must push for greater humanitarian access within Syria, as well as recognizing the capacity of Syrians to help themselves.
The question here is not whether the human suffering in Congo deserves more media coverage because it is greater than that in Syria or Gaza, but rather, why has the crisis in Syria or Gaza qualified for extensive media coverage, but not the killing and raping industries in Congo?
The costs of bringing down the Assads would be considerable, but the price of rebuilding the new Syria will be greater.
The sectarian hatreds unleashed inside Syria will demand far greater international involvement.
And the designation that you mentioned was a demonstration of the fact that we believe that those elements within the Syrian opposition who do not hold the views that Syria needs to move towards greater democracy and rights for their citizens, that they should be isolated.
In addition, other parts of the Greater Middle East from Libya and Egypt to Syria and even Pakistan are experiencing political instability, social upheavals, and increased conflict.
Because we believe that the Syrian people and the Syrian Opposition Coalition -- reflected by the Syrian Opposition Coalition, are interested in a future for Syria that includes a transition towards greater democracy, greater rights for its citizens, more economic prosperity, and does not include enacting a vision propounded by extremists.
Syria's Kurds could also seek greater autonomy, a move which would worry Turkey, which has a troubled relationship with its own Kurdish population.
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So, for now, the only transition Syria is making is moving ever more steadily towards greater destruction and death.
"If you defect in greater numbers and sooner rather than later, you can spare Syria from further tragedies and pain, " the Local Coordination Committees said in an appeal to the army.
And that's what Ambassador Rice was talking about, and Secretary Clinton and I, because the consequences of not taking that firm action are more violence -- violence that spills over Syria's borders, violence that results in even greater participation in this by Iran, for example, and others, to the point where it becomes a proxy war of sorts.
Suddenly, Shia populations in eastern Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Bahrain could demand greater recognition, an end to discrimination, maybe even some form of autonomy.
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In February, the European Union renewed its arms embargo on Syria for three months -- but amended it to allow greater nonlethal support and technical assistance to help protect civilians.
In February, the European Union renewed its arms embargo on Syria for three months -- but amended it to allow greater non-lethal support and technical assistance to help protect civilians.
Syria is more vulnerable than Libya was to such tactics, because of its greater reliance on computers for integration and control.
In addition, the United States condemns the Asad regime's use of brutal violence and human rights abuses and calls on the Asad regime to step aside and immediately begin a transition in Syria to a political process that will forge a credible path to a future of greater freedom, democracy, opportunity, and justice.
This was understandable, considering America's invasion of neighbouring Iraq, the bellicose tone of Mr Bush's administration, the sudden upsurge of anti-Syrian nationalism in Lebanon that chased Syria's long-ensconced supporters out of power in a country seen in Damascus as its backyard, and the far greater firepower of Israel, whose occupation of the Golan Heights has been a humiliating thorn in Syria's side since 1967.
Rogue regimes like Iran and Syria which slaughtered their own people in the streets as they were trying to voice for greater freedom.
The meeting will address greater recognition for the coalition, confirmation of financial pledges to it, and the humanitarian situation in Syria, the spokesman said.
It certainly does not lay claim, as dreamers of a unified Greater Kurdistan do, to a fantastical spur of land that would jut across south-eastern Turkey and northern Syria to reach the Mediterranean, plus another tongue of territory stretching south-eastwards to let Kurds dip their toes in the Persian Gulf beyond Basra.
And we are continually reviewing our options, and reviewing those options in light of what our goal is, which is to promote a post-Assad Syria, one that is best for the Syrian people that will, we hope, lead to greater democracy, freedom, economic development, and opportunity for the Syrian people, as well as stability in the country and in the region.
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