The kidnapping (and now, killing) of two P.S.P youths should be seen for what it is: An attempt at provocation.
One look at the comments section in Naharnet’s coverage of the incident is enough to give us a clear idea of how high the feelings are running in Lebanon right now. A PSP sympathizer threatens from his comfortable seat in Dubai that they will “hunt Hezbollah Down”. Another hot head from, you guessed it, Dallas TX makes it more clear: “Return them or else”.
It is not yet clear who kidnapped Ziad Ghandour and Ziad Kabalan (pictured), but the objective might precisely be the “or else” above. An “Anonymous source” (always anonymous) throws in the theory that it might be a vendetta act from Hezbollah members to revenge the killing of one of their own.
The country is rife with rumors, politicians are scrambling to contain the situation and armed forces have spread all over Beirut to establish security. What’s imperative right now is that we all stand back from the brink and cool our heads.
Perhaps something good might come out of this incident too. For the first time in months, Druze leader walid Jumblat spoke with Speaker Berri. Let’s hope that this crisis ends and turns into an opportunity.
Hello, my name is Mustapha and I have been blogging about Lebanese society and politics since February 2005. You can also find me on 
What concerns me is precisely that Joumblat talked to Berri, and the way he talked to him.
It looks exactly like the bad old days, when warlords negotiated directly with one another, with little concern for the state.
The other odd thing is that those are 2 Sunni members of PSP (?)… One of them is a 12 year precocious political activist?
This is a scary situation. Couple of incidents like that and we have 1975 again. “They” have to contain it right away. I think Mr. “Divine Victory”, has to contact the families himself to assure that they are not involved.
There is a big possibility that a third party did that (Like the Syrians, for example). We all know that how much Syria is praying for stability in Lebanon!
Lebanese are by ‘default’ very aware of any commencement of civil war. I think we can handle high restraint when needed.
Someone is playing games, and its certainly NOT Lebanese! I am not saying it’s Israeli, neither am I saying it’s American, nor Syrian. AllI am saying, this is not a Lebanese act! Someone wants to create strife, and is has immense power of spreading rumors throughout the country. Reasonably, Syria had such influence on Lebanese social affairs, down to the social apparatus to be able to spread such rumors – But to be fair, I am not blaming them.
It’s about time the Lebanese settle this! It’s been 6 Months they’ve been in Centre-Ville. Have they broke the world record for a demonstration? Can it still be called a Demonstration?
May Allah bless our two martyrs, Allah yente2em min l mejermeen
very eary , scary and quiet in Beirut right now , u shud have seen how the people vacated ABC when the news first broke out about their death. What a tragedy a 12 year old boy tortured and killed , one year younger than my brother…when will this end , i still remember the night when 4 phalangists were killed and thrown in ashrafiyeh by palestinians , forgive me for provoking these memories , scared to death and worried , till when will the lebanese continue to survive these incidents ,a will we endure it this time wth all those tempers flaring and rage surging.
i knew both of them, the 12 y.o used to play football with my brother he lived a minute away from my place im now in Sweden and was shocked when i heard the news. R.I.P
Sorry for your loss EF. It is that of every lebanese. The time now is for grief.
By now we should all the quality of people the 14 March movement are against. After the attacks that took place in the Tareek il jdeedeh, some supporter of the hizbolla regym went down to Wata mousaitbeh and started shooting, in return they were shot back,…when the Shamas was shot,..Ziab Kabalan was there at the shooting but he in return drove Shamas to the Hospital,..And they kill him for that DEED…What a murder…Who is behind this is definetly not Lebanese, or perhaps pretending to be one
Trap and Trapped are one! And if you understand that, there isn’t any trap left :-)
Lets not switch the blame of either Syria or Israel to a Lebanese Sectarian Divide.