Lebanon clashes fuel civil war fears

[Joanne98]

Lebanon clashes fuel civil war fears
By Jim Muir
BBC News, Beirut

Despite the calm, the situation in Lebanon is seen as explosive
The Lebanese capital Beirut is largely quiet and people are going about their business again, after fierce clashes on the southern edge of the city on Thursday between Shia opponents and Sunni supporters of the government.

But tensions remain high, after scenes which stirred memories of the sectarian and factional strife which marked 15 years of civil war in the 1970s and 80s, and fears that there might be a recurrence.

There has been no sign of a break in the deadlock between the opposition, led by Hezbollah, and the Western-backed, anti-Syrian government in Beirut.

Nobody seems to know where events will now lead.

All sides are agreed on one thing: that the current situation is extremely explosive, and that there is a very real danger of the country sliding back into a complex civil war that would be very hard to stop.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6303479.stm