The banner draped across one of downtown Beirut's plush ice-cream parlors reads "taste the reconciliation." The specialty of the house is a multiflavored melange that includes all the colors of the parties of Lebanon's political spectrum, now ostensibly united after three years of discord. But sweet sloganeering aside, a political chill is in the air, as uncomfortable as Beirut's summer heat. Tensions between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims are rising, and Syria is reasserting its political clout three years after it was forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon in the aftermath of the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri . ...
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The banner draped across one of downtown Beirut's plush ice-cream parlors reads "taste the reconciliation." The specialty of the house is a multiflavored melange that includes all the colors of the parties of Lebanon's political spectrum, now ostensibly united after three years of discord. But sweet sloganeering aside, a political chill is in the air, as uncomfortable as Beirut's summer heat. Tensions between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims are rising, and Syria is reasserting its political clout three years after it was forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon in the aftermath of the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri . ...