Lebanese Christian Arm Themselves for Civil War

A New York Times article warns of a potential rift in Lebanon opening into a factional war. As Hezbollah stalls Lebanese politics, Christian groups are beginning wonder if the government is capable of protecting them. Increasingly, they are arming themselves, training, and preparing for a potential civil war.

Earlier this year fighting broke out between rival Muslim factions in a Palestinian refugee camp.

The fighting at the camp followed the war in 2006 when Israel invaded Lebanon to retrieve missing soldiers. With this history of violence in the country, it’s no wonder Christian groups question the government’s capacity to protect them. One of the benefits of a strong central government, I suppose, is there is no need for state militias; only because the Lebanese Army is weak, Christian militias fill the security void.

CNN report on Israeli – Lebanese War in 2006

The article indicates that the rival Christian groups are threatening war over the appointment of the next president:

The struggle is over who gets to be the next president, a post reserved for a Christian under Lebanon’s Constitution, and which must be filled by the end of November. But the larger question — one that is prompting rival Christian factions to threaten war — is whether Lebanese Christians must accept their minority status and get along with the Muslim majority (the choice of the popular Gen. Michel Aoun) or whether Christians should insist on special privileges no matter what their share of the population

Apparently this problem is typical:

The president and the leader of the armed forces must always be a Christian, but since the Christian community is so bitterly divided, Shiite and Sunni Muslim leaders often end up choosing the candidates for them.

That’s an interesting turn, the Muslim factions in Lebanese politics are more “civilized” than the Christian groups. Regardless of sides, Lebanon is a powder keg. Religious tensions in the country seem to be at a boiling point and I wouldn’t be surprised if there was another flair up before the end of the year.