Darkness In Suriya

Via Washington Post, David Ignatius talks about The Fear Growing in Damascus

The tourniquet that is tightening inexorably around the Assad regime is the U.N. investigation into the murder last February of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri. That probe, headed by a relentless German prosecutor, Detlev Mehlis, has already turned up enough evidence to arrest four security chiefs of the old Syrian-backed regime in Beirut for possible complicity in Hariri's death. Mehlis was in Damascus this week seeking testimony from top Syrian officials.

Analysts believe that Assad canceled his New York trip for two reasons: U.S. officials couldn't guarantee his entourage immunity from arrest if Mehlis and the Lebanese government issued a warrant, and, more important, he feared the risk of turmoil in Damascus if he were to leave now.

Good stuff.