Sunnis and Hizbollah

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/lebanon-s-future-11376

Lebanon's mainstream Sunnis in relatively liberal and cosmopolitan West Beirut basically threw up their hands and let Hezbollah take over, in part because they were ill-prepared to do much about it, and in part to make their Hezbollah enemies look like the aggressors and thugs that they are. Don't expect that dynamic to last very long if the violence resumes, however. The Sunnis, as a community, are likely to follow the Druze example even if their leaders--Prime Minister Fouad Seniora and Future Movement MP Saad Hariri--instruct them not to. Former Prime Minister Omar Karami is one of Hezbollah's few Sunni allies. But as Lee Smith pointed out, he "told Hezbollah that if this becomes a sectarian fight, then we have two choices: to either stay home, or fight with our sect."

Former Lebanese MP Khaled Al-Dhaher went even further. "Since the army and the security forces are incapable of defending our sons, our religion, our faith, and our liberty," he said, "we in the Islamic Gathering have decided to launch a national-Islamic resistance, in order to protect Lebanon and defend its people, and in order to prevent the Persian enterprise from getting its clutches on an Arab capital, because the people who have occupied Beirut belong to the Persian-Iranian army."

That sounds ominous, and it is. Most Lebanese Sunnis are willing to support liberal leaders like Siniora and Hariri only if they are not in danger. The notorious terrorist group Fatah Al Islam--or whatever is left of it after its drubbing last year by the Lebanese Army --just issued a statement and said they will stand by Lebanon's Sunnis if they are attacked. The last thing Lebanon needs are Sunni and Shia terrorists slugging it out in the streets, but that's where the country is headed.
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Relevant Pages

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  • Re: Leading Saudi Sheik Pronounces Fatwa Against Hezbollah
    ... As in, a military incursion by Hezbollah into Israel to kill Israelis, and take a few hostages... ... fighting between Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq, ... The division between Sunnis and Shiites goes back to the Koran. ...
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  • Re: Leading Saudi Sheik Pronounces Fatwa Against Hezbollah
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