Out of Lebanon

Out of Lebanon and Bashar Assad may find himself out of power

RESIDENT Bashar Assad of Syria is discovering that these are difficult times for Arab dictators. Intense American pressure, supported for once by the United Nations and even by Russia and France, has obliged him to pull his troops out of Lebanon. This is a signal defeat for power politics as practiced in the Arab world, and it leaves Bashar in the eye of the rising storm. Somehow he has to find a way of converting evident weakness and surrender into strength, or at least the appearance of it. Otherwise his own downfall comes next.

About the Author

David Pryce-Jones

David Pryce-Jones (1936–2025) was a British author and commentator and served as a senior editor of National Review.

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Out of Lebanon and Bashar Assad may find himself out of power

RESIDENT Bashar Assad of Syria is discovering that these are difficult times for Arab dictators. Intense American pressure, supported for once by the United Nations and even by Russia and France, has obliged him to pull his troops out of Lebanon. This is a signal defeat for power politics as practiced in the Arab world, and it leaves Bashar in the eye of the rising storm. Somehow he has to find a way of converting evident weakness and surrender into strength, or at least the appearance of it. Otherwise his own downfall comes next.