Tensions (Lebanon-Report‪)‬

Civil War in Lebanon Could Spread, Analyst Says Tensions between Lebanon's Sunnis and Shiites threaten to plunge the country into a civil war that is likely to spread throughout the region, a leading commentator wrote in the London-based daily ASHARQ AL AWSAT on July 7. "Lebanon is in a dilemma. It's not a dilemma for (the Western-backed) March 14 Coalition and the country's Sunnis," whose majority is a key constituent of the grouping, Saleh Qallab wrote in the Saudi-owned newspaper. "It's a dilemma for some of the Arab countries that are concerned with Lebanon as well," he said. "Silence vis-a-vis provocations by Hizbullah," the Iranian- and Syrian-backed Shiite militia that is the driving force behind the rival March 8 Coalition, "and silence vis-a-vis its usurpation of Lebanon will undermine political life in this country," added Qallab, a former Jordanian information minister and a regular commentator in ASHARQ AL AWSAT. The March 8 Coalition is in power now, six months after it forced down a national unity government by withdrawing its ministers.