comment by Jerry Gordon

A Second Lebanese Civil war has erupted foisted by Hezbollah’s Sheik Nasrallah. It is a thinly disguised attempt to shut down the country and overthrow by violent means the faltering US backed government. Nasralleh uses a page out of the Nazi playbook by accusing the government of making war on Hezbollah, so turn the tables on the government. We know from our posts that Hezbollah has a vast armory supplied from Iran via Syria. It is not lost on many seasoned observers of Middle East affairs, that this sudden eruption of violence and the virtual paralysis of the country comes on the cusp of President Bush’s trip to Israel, next door, to celebrate the Jewish State’s 60th birthday. Now, we may be seeing the failure of UN Res. 1701 to salvage the Israeli effort to dislodge Hezbollah from Southern Lebanon with the neutered UNIFIL forces. Many of my Lebanese Patriot friends have families in Christian enclaves in the country, at issue is their relative safety against the backdrop of a new civil war. Many of them may flee to join relatives in the West, America included. Watch these developments closely. We are sure that friends like Walid Phares, Tom Harb and our own Joseph Shahda are anxiously monitoring the actions by Hezbollah to topple the communal government of Lebanon and make the country ‘Christianrein”.

By Zeina Karam, Associated Press Writer, May 8, 2008

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Running gunbattles raged in parts of Beirut on Thursday after the leader of Hezbollah accused Lebanon’s Western-backed government of declaring war on his Shiite militant group. At least four people were killed and eight wounded in the capital.

In a grim reminder of Lebanon’s devastating 1975-90 civil war, factions threw up roadblocks and checkpoints dividing Beirut into sectarian enclaves on the second day of clashes between Sunni Muslims loyal to the government and Shiite supporters of Hezbollah.

A top Sunni leader went on television urging Hezbollah to pull its fighters back and “save Lebanon from hell.” The army, which has stayed out of the sectarian political squabbling that has paralyzed the country for more than a year, did not intervene in the battles.

The chattering of automatic weapons and thumps of exploding rocket-propelled grenades echoed across Beirut. People huddled in hallways or staircases as gunmen rushed from one street corner to the next firing at their foes. Some families fled to neighborhoods that remained quiet.

“There is so much shooting and explosions outside. Our building is in the middle of the fighting,” a terrified woman, Ghada Helmi, told The Associated Press by telephone.

Fighting began along Corniche Mazraa, an avenue separating Shiite and Sunni areas, then spread to other districts. Combat was heard near the office of Lebanon’s Sunni spiritual leader, an ally of the government, and near the official residence of the opposition-aligned parliament speaker.

In peaceful neighborhoods, people jammed into supermarkets rushing to stockpile food while outside gunmen armed with assault rifles and RPGs peered from building entrances or took cover next to shuttered shops.

Soldiers patrolled in armored personnel carriers trying to keep the warring factions apart. Burning car tires and vehicles, debris and dirt used to barricade streets made parts of the city look like a war zone.

The unrest virtually shut down Lebanon’s international airport for a second day and barricades blocked major highways. Hezbollah first blocked roads in Beirut on Wednesday to enforce a strike called by labor unions, but confrontations quickly spread across the city. (Continue Reading this Article)