The battle lines in Lebanon are drawn sharper and sharper. They are largely sectarian and tied into the bitter civil war in neighbouring Syria.
On the one side are Sunni Muslim groups, especially Mustaqbal (Future), allied to Saudi Arabia and sympathetic to Syria’s Sunni rebels and the Sunni jihadis from around the region fighting on their side. On the other are the Shia Muslim parties Hezbollah and Amal, allied to Iran and to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, whose regime draws heavily from the minority Alawite community that has origins in Shiism.

Detente between the United States and Iran has had no impact. “It cannot easily stop the momentum of what has already started,” says Yasser Akkaoui, editor-in-chief of the Beirut business monthly Executive.

Read more here

 

The Iran Project is not responsible for the content of quoted articles.