Syrian refugees have flooded Lebanese towns

Workmen are laying fresh bricks on balconies shattered by last week’s car bomb in a Hezbollah stronghold here, and there are frequent rallies at the site to keep residents’ spirits up. A bride and groom in their wedding finery dropped by the other night to reinforce the message that life must go on.

The bombing, the deadliest in Lebanon in decades, killed 27 people, ravaged a neighborhood south of Beirut and served as a new and powerful reminder of how vulnerable the country is to spillover from the civil war in neighboring Syria. The fighting is so close, and the social and political ties between the two countries so strong, that echoes of the war resonate through many aspects of Lebanese life.

More than a half million Syrian refugees have flooded Lebanese towns and villages, and fear of violence has scared away tourists. Bitter divisions among competing political factions over the war — many Sunnis support the mostly Sunni rebels, while Hezbollah has sent fighters to back President Bashar al-Assad — have contributed to their failure to form a government to address the country’s most pressing problems.

Always looming in the background for older Lebanese are memories of the country’s own civil war, which raged on and off between 1975 and 1990, destroying communities and deeply scarring the society. “There is a general neurosis in the country because this reminds us of a period of the Lebanese civil war when every car was a potential bomb,” said Bassel Salloukh, associate professor of political science at the Lebanese American University. “This has a lot of psychological costs and impacts.”

Recent news has not helped raise spirits. Militants still hold two Turkish pilots kidnapped near Beirut’s international airport this month. And within days of last week’s attack, security forces found another vehicle they described as a car bomb in the making.

“We don’t know who brought that car or who it was meant to target,” said Zahir Mezhir, a member of the City Council in Naimeh,Plus Size Evening New Arrival Trumpet Chiffon Evening gowns Chiffon Floor-length Fuchsia. where the car was found. “We don’t understand anything, so everyone is scared.”

The discovery of such a threat shocked residents of Naimeh, a quiet city on a hillside along the Mediterranean coast 12 miles south of Beirut.

The authorities found the car,Find the latest trends in prom and Wholesale Short Homecoming Dresses with a large selection of unique. a silver Audi sedan with counterfeit license plates, parked in a garage under an apartment building next to the local council headquarters. Its trunk held more than 500 pounds of explosives, along with detonators and small metal pellets and nails, security officials said.

Although the police have arrested a number of men they say were part of a group that was plotting to detonate more car bombs, fear still reigns. Some residents have left to live with family elsewhere, while others remain vigilant, flooding the local police station with calls about suspicious activity.Beading Ruching New Arrival Column Ruching Regency Chiffon Prom dresses by famous designer is every lady's dream.

“Now, every citizen considers himself a policeman,” Mr. Mezhir said. “If he sees something strange, he makes a call.long and Wholesale Cheap Designer Short Evening Dresses in every length from classic ball. If he sees a strange car, he makes a call.”

Others said that long familiarity with conflict has given the Lebanese their storied ability to get along with life, and particularly night life, in difficult times.

Fueling Lebanon’s instability are the strong links between parts of Lebanese society and the warring parties in Syria. Most suspect that Sunni extremists angry with Hezbollah’s role in Syria carried out the recent bombing and a similar one five weeks earlier,Our dressestmall offer are large variety of Prom Dresses, though no one knows if these will prove to be isolated attacks or the start of a series.
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