New Wars, No Peace: January 2006– December 2008

Despite the withdrawal of the two foreign forces from Lebanon, the country continued to suffer from political violence and armed conflict. Israel carried out yet another full-fledged attack in the summer of 2006, which had devastating consequences on the country’s civilian population and infrastructure. This period also saw a three-month armed conflict in 2007 between the Lebanese Army and a Sunni militant group, Fatah al-Islam, based in a Palestinian refugee camp. The year 2008 brought clashes among Lebanese armed groups that lasted few days, which revived the deep trauma of the civil war. The string of political assassinations and car bombs that started in 2004 continued throughout this period, painful reminders of the war-era car bombs and political assassinations.