A crowd gathered at the foot of a building hit by Israeli shells, on April 5 in the city of Ain Saade, east of Beirut. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine/L'Orient-Le Jour)
Until now, tensions had remained largely latent. The killing on Sunday of Pierre Moawad, a senior Lebanese Forces official, in a targeted Israeli strike on the Christian locality of Ain Saade has sharpened frictions between Hezbollah’s Shiite support base and its detractors. The strike triggered strong reactions among Christian parties, which openly criticized the pro-Iranian group. Some went as far as urging Hezbollah members to “fulfill their moral duty and not hide among civilians,” according to a statement released Monday by the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), a former Christian ally of Hezbollah.The rise in tensions is fueling fears of sectarian and security spillover — something political actors say they want to avoid, provided the state fulfills its responsibilities.In his first reaction to the strike that killed the party’s...
Until now, tensions had remained largely latent. The killing on Sunday of Pierre Moawad, a senior Lebanese Forces official, in a targeted Israeli strike on the Christian locality of Ain Saade has sharpened frictions between Hezbollah’s Shiite support base and its detractors. The strike triggered strong reactions among Christian parties, which openly criticized the pro-Iranian group. Some went as far as urging Hezbollah members to “fulfill their moral duty and not hide among civilians,” according to a statement released Monday by the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), a former Christian ally of Hezbollah.The rise in tensions is fueling fears of sectarian and security spillover — something political actors say they want to avoid, provided the state fulfills its responsibilities.In his first reaction to the strike that killed the...
'American sponsorship is a guarantee,' says Lebanese-American coordination committee