Killings have been ongoing for a while now between Lebanese Shiite clans and the Sunni inhabitants of the town of Arsal. These events forebode an increase in sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shiites in broader Lebanon. Moreover, it has become obvious that the higher frequency of these events has coincided on the one hand with Hezbollah’s deepening involvement in the Syrian war and on the other with the consolidation of the relationship between Lebanese Salafist forces and their Syrian counterparts.
The current manifestations of these tensions are concentrated along the Lebanese-Syrian border, which is inhabited by Shiite as well as Sunni groups. While Arsal and its vast barren mountains are considered a stronghold of Lebanese Sunnis allied with Syrian opposition groups, the cities of Hermel and Baalbek are known to be strongholds of Hezbollah, now taking part in the Syrian war alongside the regime forces of President Bashar al-Assad.
On June 16, gunmen killed four Shiite Lebanese citizens who were repairing their car in a remote area near Arsal. Two days before this incident, gunmen had tried to kidnap a Lebanese citizen from Baalbek in the same area, but a Shiite armed group saved him and detained the perpetrators. The latter turned out to be Syrian nationals affiliated with the Free Syrian Army along with a Lebanese from Arsal. The inhabitants of Arsal claim that Shiites are also launching attacks against them.
There is a real fear today that Lebanon is on the fast track toward fierce sectarian fighting, similar to that prevailing across the region, in particular in Iraq and Syria. Arab media are playing a major role in feeding sectarian tensions across the Arab world and now seem to be pushing Lebanon in the direction of violence through their irresponsible behavior. During the preceding two weeks, tens of thousands of Lebanese received videos on their mobile phones showing a Kuwaiti Salafist sheikh threatening the Shiites of Lebanon with a war of extermination. The sheikh also alleged that Salafists in Syria had slaughtered a Shiite cleric and his young child.
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