So How Is That OTHER Ceasefire Going?

Israel's ceasefire with Hamas isn't going so well. How about that ceasefire up in Lebanon?

Apparently, ceasefires with terrorists are not holding up so well this week. Michael Totten reports:

You aren’t hearing about it in the Western media, but the truce agreement reached last month in Doha, Qatar, between the Lebanese government and the Hezbollah-led opposition is no more operative than the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Fighting broke out in the northern city of Tripoli between Sunni supporters of the “March 14” majority bloc in parliament and gunmen from the Alawite sect loyal to the Syrian Baath regime and Hezbollah. We’re not talking about street brawling here. Machine guns, mortars, and rocket-propelled grenades were deployed. Several houses and a gas station were burned to the ground. Ten people were killed and at least 52 people were wounded.

One of Lebanon’s few pro-Syrian Sunni leaders, Omar Karami (he was prime minister during the Syrian occupation), said the Doha agreement was only a “temporary truce because historical grudges still exist.” [Emphasis added.] He is right about that much, at least. Historical grudges most certainly do still exist, even if the ceasefire doesn’t.

...When I first started visiting Lebanon, in the twilight of the Syrian occupation, it was a place full of optimism and hope. The Prague Spring must have felt something like that before it was crushed under the treads of Soviet tanks.

Read the whole thing.

Hope is one thing that Israelis did not have going into their own truce--and so far their worst fears have been realized. Knowing what to expect gives them one up on the Lebanese.

Technorati Tag: Lebanon.