Over the past few weeks, there has been much talk about Syria's problems spilling over into Lebanon , flaring sectarian tensions and returning the fragile country into civil war and chaos. But the reality is that the Lebanese should be congratulated for having mainly avoided falling into this trap over the past year and a half. There is little doubt that the Syrian government has, through various means, attempted to inflame the Lebanese theatre as a means of distracting attention from its own tribulations, and reminding all of its old game as the indispensable troublemaker and problem-solver : "If you want a stable Lebanon, you need the Assad regime." There are many reasons why the Lebanese have so far demonstrated this rare form of political wisdom -- and why Tripoli is an exception. First, the Lebanese have already had a long and useless civil war in living memory. The trauma of this national debacle, where everyone fought everyone in a rolling matrix of revenge and arms-fuelled madness, remains strong and places a brake on the tribal reflexes that could react disproportionately to events. Second, the leaders of all the major groups -- above all, Hezbollah and the variety of Sunni groups, but also the Druze and Christians -- do not see any benefit from becoming a sideshow of Syria. This is particularly true of Hezbollah, which is a Syrian ally, but which also reads the writing on the wall regarding the legitimacy, waning strength and durability of the Assad government.