The Lebanese powder keg
By Olivier Guitta
Saturday's explosion of a bomb in a building in a sunni neighborhood of Tripoli (Lebanon) killing one is a reminder of the tensions running high in Lebanon.
I just wrote an article for the Middle East Times on how the different players involved in the Lebanese puzzle are preparing themselves for the next stage.
You can read the full article here.
Here is an excerpt:
After the Hezbollah (the Party of God) coup in May and its "official" endorsement by Lebanese political forces and the international community in Doha, Lebanon is still very much facing an explosive situation.
Last week's heavy fighting between Sunni militants and Alawites - an offshoot of Shiism - (Syrian President Bashar Assad is an Alawite) in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli left at least nine dead and many more wounded.
One may deduct from this latest violence that the Doha agreement that allowed the election of the pro-Syrian Gen. Michel Suleiman and de facto handed Hezbollah the keys of the country, is not going down well with the Sunnis, the Druze, a large portion of the Christian community and finally some anti-Hezbollah forces within the Shiite community. In fact, they feel that once again the United States and France have sold out Lebanon to fit their geopolitical interests.