Beirut struggles to remain neutral

Beirut: A year ago, Lebanon was bracing for trouble.

With Syria's uprising raging next door — and politics in Beirut divided along pro and anti-Syrian lines — many assumed it would be a matter of time before the country was wracked by a spillover and Shiites and Sunni began tearing each other apart.

For the most part Lebanon has muddled through, with bouts of anxiety quickly subdued by politicians who have, rather unusually, recognised the potentially devastating impact of importing the Syrian crisis.

To some extent, the unlikely truce has to do with the experience of the 1975-90 civil war and the fear of what would be another sectarian conflict.

It also underlines recognition by Hezbollah, the pro-Syrian military group and the main backer of the government in Beirut, that its priority lies in maintaining the status quo.

"We are at the edge of the abyss and we're not falling — that takes a lot of strength," says a government ally.

It would be impossible for Lebanon not to be affected by the Syrian conflict. The economy has suffered from contagion and the bank are under pressure from a US administration determined to ensure that they abide by the sanctions against Syria.

Syrians are moving to Lebanon in droves — many more than the figure of over 20,000 registered refugees suggests.

Some stay with relatives or friends, others with the hundreds of thousands of Syrian workers who have been in Lebanon for years.

Most worrying are regular, often unreported, clashes along the Lebanese borders with Syria and allegations that the Syrian regime forces have crossed into Lebanon in pursuit of opposition fighters.

A cameraman for a local television station was shot by Syrian soldiers on the Lebanese side of the border in early April.

Some Syrian activists in Beirut, meanwhile, have been threatened, although the pressure appears to have eased in recent months.

The Lebanese government, led by businessman Najeeb Mikati, has neither thrown its weight behind Syria's regime, nor opposed it. It has walked a fine line with its policy of "dissociation".

It has excused itself from Arab League decisions on Syria. It has been trying to balance the Syrian regime's demands for a clampdown on arms smuggling for rebels with international and Gulf Arab pressure for greater support for the opposition.

So while the Lebanese navy was said last month to have intercepted a shipment of arms and ammunition apparently destined for Syrian rebels, the government has turned a blind eye to Free Syrian Army fighters who have taken refuge in the northern city of Tripoli.

— Financial Times