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A report by a former senior official said Washington has again failed to stop Lebanon from being dominated by Iran and Syria. The report, titled "Fool Me Twice: How the United States Lost Lebanon — Again," asserted that U.S. aid to Lebanon's government and military did not block the deterioration of the country's pro-democracy movement.

"For the second time in three decades, a substantial American investment of time, money, and effort to strengthen the Lebanese government and support its fledgling democracy has come to very little," the report, authored by Eric Edelman and Mara Karlin, said. "Hizbullah, Teheran, and Damascus now dominate the country's intractable domestic politics. U.S. diplomacy is left powerless, wondering how to make the best of an increasingly untenable situation in the Levant."