Beirut tense
Editorial Board
7/11/2013 7:08:48 AM
THE CIVIL strife in Syria is casting its lengthy shadow on Lebanon. The deadly car bomb blast that rocked a Beirut district, which is incidentally controlled by the Hezbollah, sends a message of Lebanon once again becoming a proxy for vested interests in the region.
Though no body has claimed responsibility for the attack, it is widely assumed to be the handwork of anti-Damascus rebels fighting in Syria, and who basically operate from neighbouring countries. The fact that this blast, which badly bruised more than 50 people and wrecked destruction in an entire locality, has occurred on the eve of Ramadan is a grim reminder of similar tragic events of Beirut’s yesteryears civil war that led to serious sectarian bloodshed. It is a good sign, however, that scholars from various schools of thought have called for patience and compassion so that the vested interests who want to plunge Lebanon back into the abyss of lawlessness are not given a chance to succeed.
The situation in Beirut had been one of fear with war hysteria looming at large since two rockets fired from unknown locations hit the capital. Similarly, while Syrian President Bashar Al Assad’s security forces are openly being aided by the Hezbollah militia in its fight of survival in the areas bordering Lebanon, especially Qusayr, it is feared that a full-fledged war might break out with host of anti-Syria pockets in Lebanon leading the uprising. That would be too deadly for the fragmented society of the war-torn country, where politics is conducted on the basis of sectarian, lingual and ethnic considerations. Irrespective of the fact that the government of Lebanon is passive to the political moves of Assad and Hezbollah, owing largely to their indispensability, there is strong resistance among the Lebanese political parties, including that of former premier Saad Hariri, to take an independent stance of the pro-Teheran-Damascus militia.
This panicking state of affairs demands genuine leadership, and that could only be possible if political and security related stakeholders of Lebanon sit together and map out a strategy to deal with such eventualities. Until that is done, instant reactions from splinter groups in and out of Lebanon will keep the country in a state of shock and awe.