While the victory achieved by the Syrian army and Lebanon’s Hezbollah last week at Yabroud – in Syria’s Qalamoun region in the mountainous area near the Syrian-Lebanese border – has been hailed as a major breakthrough, it is in reality but another testament to the conflict’s intractability. Yes, the regime has racked up a string of limited military successes over the past year; however, the Yabroud campaign required a month of intense fighting in order to secure a relatively minor town.