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Gun mentality rules in
Beirut
By Lucy Ashton
BEIRUT - Blank gun licenses
are now easy to acquire in Beirut. "The Ministry
of Defense is handing them out by the thousand,"
said a prominent Lebanese businessman. "See, I
have one here." A usual gun permit bears the name
and photo of the licensee covered with an official
stamp. However, this permit has evidently been
validated before the picture was added - the ink
stamp blurs beneath the little passport photo, not
over it. "Many people have 
completely blank documents. They
are easy to obtain, you just need to ask."
Such permits allow a holder to buy
any weapon available, from pistol to submachine-gun.
"AKs are most popular," said Joseph, a gun seller.
"They are cheap, only US$100." It is also possible
to buy guns on the black market. The best range
can be found in the Bekaa Valley, particularly in
the ancient city of Baalbek, whose streets are now
decked with the portraits of Hezbollah martyrs who
have died fighting against Israel.
The trade in weapons quickened last week as
battered trucks carrying 2,000 Syrian troops drove out
of Lebanon, adding to the 4,000 who had already
left; 8,000 remain in Lebanon. Still, the prompt
removal of Syrian forces and the announcement of
caretaker Prime Minister Omar Karami that he cannot form
a cabinet are stoking fears of a security vacuum. So
what has been a largely peaceful Lebanese society
since the end of the civil war in 1990 is rearming
- just in case.
The people of this state
first identify themselves by nationality, that of
Lebanese, then by religion and then by political
group. With 17 groups in Lebanon, each with their
own leaders and allegiances, political division is
inevitable, and there is not too much weight
behind any one party.
But if people are forced
to identify themselves by religious group - Muslim
versus Christian - then the careful threads that
have restitched Lebanese society back together
since the end of the war will tighten and snap.
And this strain is exactly what someone is trying
to bring about.
The three bombs that have so
far exploded in Christian areas are intended to
heighten suspicions between the two religious
groups. The bombs are being placed with restraint
for now, their locations and timing carefully
chosen in commercial areas at night so that
casualties are few. They are warnings, but the
city is waiting for worse.
Some
Lebanese think the bombings are Syrian sour
grapes, retaliation for being kicked out of
Beirut after the assassination of former premier
Rafik Hariri last month. Others believe that the
Syrians want to foment trouble to justify their
continued control over Beirut. Pro-Syrian Lebanese
say it is a Christian group planting the bombs to
rally their fractious fellows to a single
religious cause. This, they say, is why the bombs
are not planted to kill, but explode in almost
deserted commercial streets at night. So far the
only casualties have been Indians and Sri Lankans
who guard the buildings at night.
To cause real chaos would not be hard: the killing
of one of the long-established figureheads of one
of the Maronite, Shi'ite or Druze factions would
be enough. Hariri was a prominent Sunni, but in
truth nobody liked him that much - he did not carry
the emotions of the Lebanese. He was a respected
businessman and politician, though often described
as corrupt. But to kill Druze leader Walid
Jumblatt, that would be a different matter. All
hell would break loose as the Druze are a
well-gelled group. For this reason, he is buffered
under heavy guard.
Prime Minister
Karami's failure to form a government to oversee
elections has added to the uncertainty. He has
already stepped down twice in a month: first he was
forced to resign after the killing of Hariri, then
reappointed by parliament to form a government to
unify the anti-Syrian opposition and the Damascus
loyalists. Now the opposition has refused to join
such a government until Hariri's assignation is
fully investigated, those responsible dismissed
and all the Syrian troops and spies have left the
country. Pro-Syrian politicians are obviously none
too keen on such conditions. No one quite knows
how to break this stalemate.
Talking to a
top pro-Syrian security official, he said peace
was far away, it will not happen before the end of
summer. He said democracy could not work in
Lebanon, the country was too divided, it needed a
single firm hand running Beirut. The city could
expect not one or two bombs, he said, but hundreds
in the coming months. Whether such a statement
came from a genuine concern for the security of
Lebanon, or was a veiled threat, was unclear.
Lucy Ashton is a freelance
journalist based in Amman, Jordan.
(Copyright 2005 Asia Times Online Ltd. All
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