MEMRI’s latest report from Lebanon is a disturbing glimpse into a country on the brink of civil war, as decades-old political alliances are suddenly fluid.

In recent days, the Lebanese media has been reporting on impending large-scale street demonstrations planned by Hizbullah. According to several reports, last night Hizbullah and its allies met and set the time and date for the launch of these actions; the reports also state that activists from Hizbullah, Amal, and Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement have been placed on alert. The Lebanese, pro-Syrian daily Al-Diyar estimated that the actions would start within 48 hours, stating that Lebanon seems “headed for the unknown,” and that the stubbornness of Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Al-Siniora “has brought Lebanon to the brink of bloodshed.”

Today, November 28, 2006, Lebanese papers also reported that there were several clashes during the night in various areas of Beirut, between activists from Samir Geagea’s Lebanese Forces party and activists from the Free Patriotic Movement, and that these clashes followed attempts by the latter to hang flags and posters of Aoun in the streets of Beirut. Near 1 A.M., about 2,000 activists, from both parties, gathered at Sasin Square and the surrounding streets and taunted and threw stones at each other. Eventually, Lebanese Army soldiers arrived to break up the conflict. A similar clash in the Christian neighborhood of Al-Ashrafiya in the eastern part of the city was broken up by the army and by the internal security forces.

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