2008 Conflict in Lebanon - Background

Background

On December 1, 2006, a series of protests and sit-ins began in Lebanon, led by groups that opposed the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. The opposition group was made up of pro-Syrian Hezbollah and Amal. A number of smaller parties were also involved, including the Marada Movement, the Lebanese Communist Party and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party. Members of the government are part of the March 14 Alliance, a coalition of anti-Syrian political parties and former militias that include the Progressive Socialist Party, the Lebanese Forces and the Future Movement. The two groups are also divided along religious lines, the majority of Sunnis supporting the government and the Shi'a supporting the opposition group. Druze aligned with Walid Jumblatt support the government, while those allied to Talal Arslan have backed the opposition. The Christian community is divided as well, with Michel Aoun claiming to have 70% of the Christian community's support, based on the results of 2005 parliamentary elections. The opposition demanded that the government resign after Shi'a ministers had left the government in protest against a decision concerning the Hariri tribunal, thus unbalancing the proportional representation of religious groups as stipulated by the Lebanese Constitution. The standoff between the March 14 government and the March 8 opposition resulted in a year-long deadlock over the election of a new President to succeed Emile Lahoud whose term had expired.

Seymour Hersh believed that the U.S was working to weaken and disarm Hezbollah with the help of Saudi Arabia, who was attempting to strengthen Sunni groups as a counterweight to the Shi'a Hezbollah. Borzou Daragahi, the L.A. Times bureau chief in Beirut, wrote that the Saudis had disowned the attempt by Sunnis in Lebanon to found a militia in the guise of a security force named Secure Plus. As'ad AbuKhalil, a secular leftist and a professor of political science at the California State University, Stansilaus, stated that he believed the US was attempting to fund and arm Sunni militias to instigate a Sunni-Shiite conflict.Pepe Escobar wrote in the Asia Times that the US gave $60 million to the Lebanese Internal Security Forces at the Interior Ministry, and accused the US of fomenting sectarianism in Lebanon.