I feel like things are really shifting here. When we arrived, it became clear that the unity we had seen on TV with all of the demonstrations following Hariri’s assasination had sort of dissolved. But I still didn’t find it very tense here.

Maybe nothing has changed and it’s just that I have been here longer; I have talked to more people. But taxi drivers are asking if we are Christian and then trash talking Muslims. All of the old militia flags have come out again. Yesterday, Parliament voted to release Samir Geagea, the former leader of Lebanese Forces (main Christian militia). Out come the fireworks and the flags, the honking horns and the posturing. I am seeing fewer Lebanese flags and more party/militia/sect flags.

Last night, some Amal guys and some LF guys got into a skirmish on the former Green Line (the road that divided East and West Beirut during the civil war). Shots were fired, no one was killed (UPDATE : actually, one guy was killed), the police broke it up and made arrests.

Things with Syria have also become very tense. Trucks are backed up at the border because Syria is intentionally delaying them. Lebanese farmers are furious because their fruit is being held up at the border for days at a time and therefore rotting on the truck. Syria is the only open land border for Lebanon, so it’s a real problem. Syria has arrested Lebanese fishermen for drifting into Syrian waters, and the Lebanese army fired shots at some Syrian smugglers who had crossed the northern border.

Not to mention the string of assasinations and attempts (now suddenly including former Iraqi PM Allawi?), the Hezbollah question, the fact that the new government still has not been formed because the Cabinet cannot be agreed upon…..

UPDATE: Apparently, Siniora (the PM) and Lahoud (the President) have reached an agreement about the Cabinet, and the new members will be announced in about 40 minutes…. maybe things are looking up.