In summary, the lessons:
- Stay there a long time (at least a quarter century).
- Switch (local) sides often. Arm everyone at one time or another.
- Shell population centers to signal displeasure. Enforce curfews with summary executions.
- Stultify domestic political discourse with heavy secret police presence.
- Assassinate recalcitrant political leaders (Junblat), but not too many (Hariri) or it all backfires.
- Allow your officer corps to enrich themselves by facilitating drug and trade smuggling--it keeps them happy, offsets low military wages, pleases local farmers too, and really keeps electronics prices low in Damascus.
- Risk/threaten to restart civil war if policy goes wrong.
As successful as Syrian stabilization operations were in their day, I vote we don't copy this one!
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