Mar 27, 2008, 18:13 GMT
Beirut - Concerns are increasing among ordinary Lebanese that a new wave of political assassinations will hit the country after the weekend Arab Summit in Syria, which is being boycotted by the Western-backed Lebanese government.
'I have great fears that Lebanon will pay a dear price for not attending the summit,' said housewife Sana al-Solh, summing up what so many are feeling.
'Lebanon is today sailing through troubled waters,' said anti- Syrian MP Mustafa Alloush. 'All are continuing to strive to stop the country from drifting to total paralysis.'
Lebanon announced Tuesday it will not participate in the Arab summit in Damascus on March 29-30, because of what is seen as Syria's dubious role in the country's protracted presidential crisis.
The boycott decision was widely expected after Saudi Arabia and Egypt announced they were sending lower-level officials to the meeting in moves widely seen as snubbing Syria.
'The failure of the summit in Syria will be blamed on the Lebanese - and, as always, we Lebanese will pay the hard price of regional and international differences,' said businessman Saeed Tahan.
Lebanon's Information Minister Ghazi al Aridi expects the political tension to highten after the summit because 'Syria will ask its allies in Lebanon (headed by the Shiite Movement Hezbollah) to escalate their opposition.'
The opposition have been calling on the Western-backed government of Fouad Seniora to resign and form a national unity government, a demand rejected by the majority because the opposition want to have veto power in the new cabinet.
MP Alloush stressed fears among the ruling majority that after the summit, political assassinations will increase. Lebanon has been hit since 2005 by a series of assassinations targeting mainly anti-Syrian figures and journalists.
'The killers will be out again on the streets, but we are not afraid,' he said.
Lebanon's ruling majority has always blamed Syria of fomenting instability in Lebanon.
New fears aired in the media by members of the ruling majority have meanwhile prompted the Lebanese army and Internal Security Forces (ISF) to take extra security measures around government institutions and shopping centres to prevent any security breaches.
The army has also intensified its night checkpoints around the capital.
The 16-month-old conflict between Lebanon's Western-backed governing coalition and pro-Syrian opposition, led by Hezbollah, has clearly reflected the tensions pitting the United States and Saudi Arabia against Iran and Syria. It has also left Lebanon without a president since November.
Syria was Lebanon's powerbroker since its troops intervened in 1976, early in Lebanon's civil war.
The Syrians remained for almost 29 years, until an international and local outcry over the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri, which many Lebanese blame on Damascus, forced them to pull out.
Since then, relations with Damascus, which has never established formal diplomatic ties with its small neighbor, have become tense.
'It is always the fate of the Lebanese to link their fate and the stability of the country to regional conflicts and await the settling of accounts at conferences like Arab summits,' said Sami al Khazan, a banker.
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