The Hezbollah gunmen surrounded Gen. (ret.) Jamil Sayyed as he spoke to press at the airport, escorting him home at the end of the event.

Sayyed, the former head of Lebanon's General Security, was arrested in 2005 and held in jail for nearly four years without charge for involvement in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

"The Beirut airport was turned into one of Hezbollah's security quarters," an anonymous member of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri March 14 Alliance told the Arab daily Sharq Al-Awsat. "This dangerously revealed airport security."

"Seeing the airport incident, it is clear that Hezbollah has decided to attack the regime," Ghazi Youssef, a Parliament member in Hariri's Al-Mustaqbal (Movement of the Future) bloc told The Media Line. "Hezbollah believes this is part of the democratic game, but what was done was a breach of the law. There are limits to freedom of expression.

Mohammad Shatah, a former Lebanese minister, was less diplomatic.

"The airport scene was surreal. Lebanese could have never seen such a sight in any other country in the world."

But clearly more than airport security is now at stake in Lebanon.

Before leaving for Paris on Sept. 12, Sayyed called Prime Minster Hariri a liar and urged the Lebanese to topple his government. Upon his return to Beirut, again Sayyed did not mince his words. This time, he attacked State Prosecutor Said Mirza, who called him in for questioning following his threatening statements.

"Mirza is supposed to be a public prosecutor - i.e. neutral - but considering these lawsuits, he became my personal adversary," Lebanon's Daily Star quoted Sayyed as saying.

The issue of "false witnesses" has become a main point of contention for Sayyed and his supporters in Hezbollah. The term refers to Lebanese legal and security officials who testified before the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which is investigating the assassination of Hariri.

Prime Minister Hariri recently rescinded his accusation of Syria as primarily responsible for his father's assassination in an interview with the Sharq Al-Awsat, acknowledging the existence of false witnesses.

However, on Monday, Hariri reiterated his support for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, defying Hezbollah's demand that Lebanon officially accuse Israel of the murder.

Professor Eugène Sensenig-Dabbous, chairman of the Political Science department at Lebanon's Notre-Dame University, said that Hariri's overture toward Syria was implicitly implicating Hezbollah.

"If Syria isn't involved in the assassination, who is?" he rhetorically asked in an interview with The Media Line. "It's looking more and more like Hezbollah was involved in the assassinations that took place in 2005."

Sensenig-Dabbous predicted a re-alignment of powers, with Hariri's March 14 Alliance drawing closer to Syria, leaving Hezbollah isolated with Iran.

"I don't know if a partnership with Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement and Iran will be enough for Hezbollah," Sensenig-Dabbous said.

Samir Al-Sa'adawi, a Beirut-based journalist at the Arab daily Al-Hayyat, said that tensions in Lebanon would likely intensify rather than calm down.

"The situation is tense, and is only escalating," he told The Media Line. "I don't know if the regional players, Syria and Saudi Arabia, can stop the escalation - if not, we're facing more trouble."