BEIRUT: Four Shiite Lebanese men were killed on Sunday in an ambush in a volatile area by the border with Syria, hiking already high sectarian tensions and concerns over the spillover of the civil war raging next door.
Gunmen from the families of the slain Shiites took to the streets and set up roadblocks between their town and the neighboring Sunni majority town of Arsal, accusing residents there of being behind the killings.
The delicate religious and sectarian balance in Lebanon, home to more than 18 sects, has been disrupted by the war across the border in Syria. Tensions have been high for months, with Lebanon’s Sunnis largely supporting their brethren in Syria who make up the majority of the rebellion, while Shiites have supported President Bashar Assad.
But Lebanon’s splits have been further inflamed after Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah group openly joined the fight in Syria on the side of Assad, helping his troops crush rebels in a town just over the border in Syria. Since then, Syria’s rebels have vowed vengeance on Hezbollah, and the conflict, now in its third year, has moved toward a regional sectarian fight.
In a speech Friday, the leader of the Hezbollah said he will not tolerate any criticism of his group’s role in Syria.
