Lebanon and Syria are both lurching toward implosion, with popular uprisings or even civil wars an increasing possibility.

In Syria’s case, the underlying challenge is an economy destroyed by nine years of civil war. Yet, where that economy once tottered along with Bashar Assad’s retention of power in Damascus and control over trade, that dynamic has now dissipated. The dictator’s foreign capital reserves are depleted while inflation is skyrocketing amid a shortage of goods and the Syrian pound’s collapsing value.