Echoes of Lebanon civil war as Syrian turmoil spreads

Beirut. Tit-for-tat kidnappings by Syrian rebels and Lebanese Shi'ite gunmen have escalated tensions in Lebanon, where the spectre of contagion from Syria's conflict is alarming the fractured and war-scarred Mediterranean nation, Reuters reports.
Despite government efforts to insulate it from turmoil in its once dominating neighbour, Lebanon has seen armed clashes in its two largest cities, and last week authorities said they uncovered a Syrian plot to destabilise the country.
The sight of masked gunmen in Beirut on Wednesday claiming the capture of 20 Syrians, and the kidnapping in broad daylight of a Turkish businessman near the airport, was another dramatic sign of Syria's crisis spilling over into Lebanon.
While they may not herald an imminent slide towards conflict in Lebanon, the incidents highlight the weak and tenuous authority of Lebanon's state institutions and point to future instability in the country of four million.
"This will have a negative impact on state authority, the military and the business environment in Lebanon" said Ayham Kamel of the Eurasia Group consultancy. "The likelihood of civil war right now remains low, but reaching this stage is a very alarming development".
To the outside world, kidnapping foreigners was a defining feature of Lebanon's civil war, and the brazen public appearance by the masked gunmen this week - unchallenged by security forces - echoed the chaos of the 1975-1990 conflict.
"This ...brings us back to the days of the painful war, a page that Lebanese citizens have been trying to turn," said Prime Minister Najib Mikati, whose policy of 'dissociation' from Syria's conflict next door has come under growing strain.