Beirut clash fires up sectarian anger in echo of civil war

By SARAH EL DEEB
Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — The shootout on the streets of Beirut between rival Christian and Muslim groups last week revived memories of the country’s 1975-90 civil war. It also fired up sectarian passions in a country that never dealt with the causes of its violent past. Add to that a bankrupt government, hyperinflation and mounting poverty, and Lebanon is turning into a powder keg on the Mediterranean. Many Lebanese see the fighting as a way for the entrenched sectarian political leaders to rally their supporters around them. For many of the younger generation, it has only deepened their loss of hope in their country’s system.