Two groups of young men — one Sunni, the other Shiite — got into a fight July 1 in the Saadiyat area, 20 kilometers (roughly 12 miles) south of Beirut, as young Shiite men hung religious banners in their mosques, which the Sunni youth considered provocative. Had the incident not carried deep connotations and potential dangerous repercussions, it could have just been another ordinary news item.
The first danger of this armed clash — which left seven injured from both sides — is not just that the young men involved belong to the two main conflicting sects in Lebanon and the region, but also that they were partisan members. Some belonged to the pro-Saudi predominately Sunni Future Movement, while others were affiliated with Hezbollah, which is pro-Iran and predominately Shiite.
