Deeb traces in detail, based largely on sources in Arabic, Syria's long destructive involvement in Lebanon, and how the divisions with-in Lebanon have been manipulated by Syria to prevent rapprochement and peace. Syria's policy has been to maintain instability in order to increase its importance in the region through the threat of increasing turmoil combined with the promise, rarely realized, of "solving" the Lebanon problem if Syria's interests were addressed. The unwillingness of other countries, including the United States, to call Syria to task only prolonged the suffering of the Lebanese people.