Lebanon Braces

Lebanon is bracing for another showdown. When Syria's troops withdrew from the country six months ago, after a popular revolt sparked by the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, the Lebanese hoped to have seen the last of foreign forces inside their borders but Syrian backed Palestinian guerrillas are emerging as a fresh threat to Lebanon's stability. They are part of a 350,000-strong Palestinian population who have been in Lebanon since Israel's war of independence in 1948.

Last week, after a surveyor was shot near the south eastern Lebanese village of Sultan Yacoub, hundreds of...