The Middle East has never been short of strongmen but it has outdone itself this time. It has delivered the most dangerous man we have ever encountered and whom we can no longer tolerate.

Returning to Beirut from a trip to Damascus, I recalled what I once heard: “Damascus and Baghdad paid in recent decades the price of reckless decisions, while Beirut paid the price of a lack of ability to take decisions.”

As I entered the Syrian presidential palace, I observed a young man called Ahmad Al-Sharaa at the seat of the two Assads. My realization grew stronger that what had happened in Syria was immense and would leave its mark on the country and perhaps beyond.