Lebanon’s Future Hangs On Hezbollah’s Syria Stance | Antoun Issa (Al Akhbar English)
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/lebanon%E2%80%99s-future-hangs-hezbollah%E2%80%99s-syria-stance
The recent clashes in Lebanon have placed the spotlight on the country’s questionable ability to prevent the Syrian crisis from spreading to its territory. Tension is at a peak in the country, with a number of various incidents, unrelated to each other, but all in a way related to the Syrian crisis, threatening to return chaos to a country all too familiar with it. Despite the fears, a civil war still remains unlikely, if only for the lack of an equal balance of powers threatening to go to blows. In 1975, Lebanon was polarized behind a powerful and heavily-armed Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), and the Phalangists, the dominating Lebanese political player at the time. In 2012, only Hezbollah dominates in country, and is the only force that wields heavy weaponry. No band of militiamen carrying AK-47s and RPGs will ever be a match. (...) Source: Al Akhbar English