TRIPOLI — The release last week of Shadi al-Mawlawi, a Sunni Islamist whose arrest sparked bloody clashes, may have temporarily brought calm back to the streets of Tripoli and stopped Lebanon from further sliding toward sectarian war.
But on the ground, a deep mistrust of the security and army establishments by Sunni Lebanese, coupled with the worsening situation in Syria, and the economic and social neglect of Lebanon’s north, are challenges politicians need to address urgently or sectarian tensions will return.
