Lebanon's militias rearm before vote

"Go to the mountains and see how the [Druze] PSP [Progressive Socialist Party] is patrolling their areas. Their behavior alone is driving the situation close to civil war," says Nawaf Mussawi, Hizbullah's head of external relations.

Following a deadly Sunni-Shiite riot in Beirut in January, local PSP party leaders contacted cadres and summoned them for weekend small-arms training in their Chouf mountain stronghold, according to a member of the PSP. The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the training has since stopped.

Walid Jumblatt, leader of the PSP, admitted that some Druze had purchased weapons after the January riot, but insisted that there was no formal military training by his party.

"I visited the villages and told them it's useless to have weapons. We can't win against Hizbullah, they are too strong," he says.

Even if there is no large-scale paramilitary training under way, there are emerging indications that former militias are reorganizing structurally.

The Mourabitoun, a leading Sunni militia in the early stages of the civil war, has reappeared as a political entity allied to the March 14 block. Mourabitoun gunmen helped reinforce Lebanese troops in May during the opening stage of a three-month battle against Al-Qaeda-inspired militants holed up in a Palestinian refugee camp in north Lebanon.

Christians and Druze reorganize

A former senior Lebanese army officer close to top Christian and Druze leaders admitted that the PSP and the Lebanese Forces, a Christian party and former wartime militia, are organizing themselves in anticipation of a violent confrontation between Lebanese Shiites and Sunnis. Commanders are being appointed in towns and villages and communications links established, he says. The idea, he says, is to ensure that the Christian- and Druze-dominated Mount Lebanon district remains neutral if fighting breaks out between Sunnis and Shiites.

"We are working on ensuring that the Christians and Druze stay out of the fighting," he says. "Everyone has a gun in their home and they will use it to defend their homes only."

Billboards are being erected throughout the country carrying messages warning against falling into the trap of sectarian fighting. One billboard portrays a small solemn-looking boy with an M-16 rifle. "Before you are dragged in," the caption reads.

Still, sectarian hostility is easily found in Beirut's neighborhoods.

"Why should Hizbullah be the only group to have weapons? We need weapons to defend ourselves against them," says Ahmad Shatila, a Sunni from the district of Tarik al-Jdeide.

But many Hizbullah supporters are losing patience with what they regard as the party's policy of restraint toward its political opponents.

Asked if he thought a Sunni-Shiite war would happen, Hassan, a new Hizbullah recruit, smiled and said: "God willing."

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