SULEIMAN AL-KHALIDI SYRIA will hold a presidential election on May 26 that is virtually certain to return President Bashar al-Assad for a third term - an event that Washington and the opposition say is a farce designed to cement his autocratic rule. Assad's family and his Baath party have ruled Syria for five decades with the help of the security forces and the army, where his Alawite minority dominate. This year is the 10th anniversary of a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters which triggered a civil war that has left much of Syria in ruins. The multi-sided conflict has sucked…