Flames lick at Lebanon
BURSTS OF gunfire in Beirut this week have sparked fears that Lebanon is on the cusp of another civil war. As with its long conflict from 1975 to 1990, outside powers near and far are sure to be drawn into the maelstrom of another fratricidal war among Lebanon's disparate communities. Such a war would be a disaster, and the entire region has an interest in preventing it.
There are differing explanations for the origin of the latest clashes between the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and the Shi'ite militia, Hezbollah. The group's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, accused the government of provoking Hezbollah's takeover of Sunni neighborhoods and media outlets controlled by Saad Hariri, son of the slain former prime minister Rafik Hariri and leader of an anti-Syrian coalition.
Nasrallah said the government's decision to shut down Hezbollah's fiber-optic communications network was tantamount to a declaration of war. For the Sunni, Druze, and Christian parties in the government, the network represented an intolerable example of Hezbollah's efforts to set up an Iranian- and Syrian-backed state within Lebanon. Hezbollah justifies the network, which carried its communications during a 2006 war with Israel, as a vital security asset.
The second pretext for Hezbollah's assault on Sunni neighborhoods in Beirut was the government's removal of a Shi'ite airport security chief linked to Hezbollah. The army's intelligence branch claimed to have discovered a hidden remote-controlled camera overlooking an airport runway. The government suspected preparations for a terrorist attack and accused the security chief of ignoring the camera and colluding with Hezbollah in identifying targets for capture or assassination.
Troubling as these disputes may be, they hardly justify starting a new civil war. The Arab League, which has called a meeting in Cairo to address the Lebanon crisis, ought to encourage political compromise among Lebanese factions and regional cooperation that reduces the security threats that weigh on Lebanon. Arab government officials make no secret of their fear that Hezbollah is acting as an agent of Iran, threatening to spread Iranian influence not only to Arab Iraq but to Lebanon as well.
It is precisely because outside forces are prone to wage their power struggles on Lebanese soil that all concerned parties, including the United States, should be encouraging their friends and clients inside Lebanon to strike the power-sharing political deals that alone may prevent a civil war. 