Two years after the assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister, Rafik Hariri, and 22 others, including former Minister Basil Fuleihan, on Tuesday Lebanon was subjected to another terrorist attack in Ain Alaq, near Bikfaya, home of the Gemayel family. The bombings represented, most probably, another escalation by the Syrian regime.

Two years after the assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister, Rafik Hariri, and 22 others, including former Minister Basil Fuleihan, on Tuesday Lebanon was subjected to another terrorist attack in Ain Alaq, near Bikfaya, home of the Gemayel family. The bombings represented, most probably, another escalation by the Syrian regime.

The late Syrian President Hafez Assad's success in maintaining his grip on power for three decades depended greatly on his skillful use of coercion and cooptation to divide opponents of the regime along ethnic, sectarian, and ideological lines.

His son and successor, Bashar, has failed to manage these divisions. Unfavorable international conditions, colossal foreign policy failures, and a precarious economy have left the regime with little bargaining leverage other than its control over the instruments of repression. This asset remains effective in silencing and intimidating dissidents individually, but ineffective in obstructing their collective gravitation around the demand for regime change.

The late Syrian President Hafez Assad's success in maintaining his grip on power for three decades depended greatly on his skillful use of coercion and cooptation to divide opponents of the regime along ethnic, sectarian, and ideological lines.

His son and successor, Bashar, has failed to manage these divisions. Unfavorable international conditions, colossal foreign policy failures, and a precarious economy have left the regime with little bargaining leverage other than its control over the instruments of repression. This asset remains effective in silencing and intimidating dissidents individually, but ineffective in obstructing their collective gravitation around the demand for regime change.

The recent conflict between Israel and Hezbollah produced a dramatic resurgence of Saudi-Syrian tensions, which have been boiling beneath the surface since the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri in 2005 and fueled by Assad's strategic alignment with Iran.

The recent conflict between Israel and Hezbollah produced a dramatic resurgence of Saudi-Syrian tensions, which have been boiling beneath the surface since the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri in 2005 and fueled by Assad's strategic alignment with Iran.

If there is one seemingly immutable rule of diplomatic relations in the Middle East, it is that Arab governments vehemently reject outside efforts to censure one of their own.