Damascus certainly has had delivered the excuse it would want to bring the jackboots back tenfold:

Emile Lahoud, Lebanon's pro-Syrian president, has invited anti-Syrian opposition and loyalist politicians to begin immediate talks after a car bomb raised fears of a return to the country's violent past. The blast wounded several people in a Christian suburb of eastern Beirut, gutting the ground and first floors of a residential block and destroying nearby cars.

In a statement, Mr Lahoud's office said: "The president affirms the need for such a dialogue meeting starting today in any place they agree on, including the presidential palace, which will keep its doors open."

Familiar work. A little explosion to prod the opposition into breaking their vows?

That God might prevail on an absolute ruler to remove himself from the throne of his own volition is so incredible a miracle it is no more than perfection's brief appeal to obdurate mortal nature, and for the sake of lives imperiled in the meantime not an intervention to be sought.

The Lebanese have victory — but must hold on tight. And they need the free world's help.