Lebanon's 'Black Sunday' killings raise sectarian tensions

The Lebanese Army, which many credit with holding together the fragile nation, is under siege after firing on a protest last month.

from the February 7, 2008 edition

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Either way, the military investigation has yet to draw its conclusions, but in deeply polarized Lebanon, truth often carries less weight than perception. That much is evident from conversations with residents in the Shiite neighborhoods of Haret Hreik and Shiyyah and the Christian district of Ain Rummaneh.

"For more than 15 years, the Army has been helping the resistance, but some soldiers are allied to political parties that hate our people," says Hamad Mokdad, a Shiite Hizbullah supporter. The "resistance" is a term often used to describe Hizbullah.

Mr. Mokdad was wounded by gunfire, apparently from the Army, during the demonstration. He is being treated in a Hizbullah-funded hospital in Haret Hreik, a neighborhood of staunch support for the militants.

As news of the shootings spread through the neighborhood, residents say dozens of men carrying rifles and rocket-propelled grenades headed toward the scene, before being persuaded to turn back by Hizbullah commanders.

However, some angry Shiite demonstrators charged into the adjacent Christian neighborhood of Ain Rummaneh, damaging cars and breaking windows before troops could disperse them.

In Ain Rummaneh, a few minutes' walk from the clamor, clogged traffic, and Shiite imagery of Haret Hreik, views of "Black Sunday" are starkly different.

"I don't believe the Army did the shooting; I think it was the Shiites shooting at the soldiers that started it, because they want to provoke a war," says Lebanese Forces supporter Elie Zarour, who has a small gray mark of the cross on his forehead to commemorate Ash Wednesday.

Tensions between Ain Rummaneh and the adjacent Shiite neighborhood, Shiyyah, have existed since the 1975-90 civil war. The former Green Line dividing east and west Beirut during the war runs down the street separating the two quarters, and some buildings still bear the scars of that earlier conflict. Although the main sectarian fault-line in today's political crisis is between Shiites and Sunnis, tensions have been building once more between Shiyyah and Ain Rummaneh, residents say.

"We feel that we are heading toward a new civil war," says Hanna Nassif, a former militiaman with the Lebanese Forces. "But Ain Rummaneh is a castle of steadfastness and we will protect the Christians like we did before."

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