The Lebanon crisis has escalated even though the two sides reached an agreement on resuming negotiations on the formation of a unity government, the election of a consensus president, the makeup of the national unity government’s cabinet, and the drafting of a new parliamentary election law.

The latest conflict between government supporters and opposition forces in Lebanon began last week when the Fouad Siniora government tried to shut down Hezbollah’s telecoms network.
Due to the March 14 group’s provocative acts, tension rose, especially in Beirut and the western and northern cities of the country.
Although Hezbollah leaders wisely decided to make efforts to resolve the conflict, the Western-backed ruling March 14 group and some Arab countries have been trying to spark a sectarian war.
The timely Arab League foreign ministers’ gathering in Cairo, and the strong stances of Syria and Qatar against some Arab states have led to the establishment of a ministerial committee tasked with resolving the Lebanon crisis.
The committee is headed by Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani and the other members are Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa and the foreign ministers of several Arab states.
After visiting leaders of all Lebanon’s political factions in Beirut, the committee signed a five-article agreement calling on all armed groups to cease hostilities, to continue the parallel dialogue on extending the sovereignty of the state throughout Lebanon, and to pledge to refrain from using weapons to further their political agendas.
Most political analysts believe Hezbollah’s decision was of great importance for the country’s security in the face of the internal and external pressure.
The new crisis, which began when Prime Minister Siniora gave the order to shut down Hezbollah’s telecoms network and sacked the head of security at Beirut airport, can be viewed as a conspiracy with internal, regional, and extra-regional dimensions.
Following the defeat of the Zionist regime in the 33-day war and the failure of their plan to disarm Hezbollah, the United States and its Arab allies devised a new plot to give Mossad and CIA agents a free hand in Lebanon so that they would be able to assassinate Islamic resistance leaders according to a specific timetable.
In addition, some Arab states that hypocritically claim to be on the front line in the campaign against terrorism are actually supporting terrorist groups in the Middle East and providing financial and political support to certain elements in Lebanon.
But the world is well aware of who supports terrorism and who was directly involved in the September 11, 2001 attack on the U.S., an event which distorted the political contours of the world.
These same Arab states have made every effort to turn the Lebanon crisis into a Sunni-Shia conflict, but they have already been defeated since the way has been paved for the beginning of a national dialogue among Lebanon’s political factions.
If the members of the Arab League ministerial committee shun sectarianism, the Doha talks can surely lead to an agreement acceptable to all sides, allowing peace and stability to be reestablished in the country.
But if the committee, under the influence of certain Arab states, chooses to ignore the realities in Lebanon and decides to support a certain Lebanese group, the situation will spin out of control