Quadriga

The bomb attack against the head of Lebanon's Internal Security Forces Wissam al-Hassan has injected new life into the long-running conflict between the Shiite Hezbollah and both Christian and Sunni Muslim opposition groups. Government opponents as well as representatives of Western nations suspect the regime of Syria's dictator Bashar al-Assad was behind the assassination. But Hezbollah continues to support Assad.

The Sunni and Christian opposition parties in Lebanon tend to support the Syrian opposition. Although the Syrian government has condemned the killing of al-Hassan, the opposition believes Assad had a hand in it.

Neither Lebanon's opposition groups nor Western governments want to see a destabilisation of the tiny Mediterranean country. But if the war in Syria were to spill over into Lebanon, that could take some pressure off President Assad. The situation on the streets of Lebanon is tense.

Tell us what you think: Syrian Spillover - Is Lebanon Sliding into Civil War?

quadriga@dw.de

Our guests:

Ralph Ghadban– the German Islamic scholar and author was born in Lebanon. In 1972, after completing his studies in philosophy at Beirut University he moved to Berlin, where he then read Islamic studies and political science. He worked as an assistant professor at Berlin’s Protestant Fachhochschule (University of Applied Sciences) and has published various articles on the subject of Islam and the Islamization of Europe.

Alexander Bühler -He is a freelance journalist and works for German newspapers and magazines such as Der Spiegel, Die Zeit and Cicero as well as national and international radio stations and the German television stations ARD and ARTE. His assignments have included conflict zones in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kosovo, Haiti, Colombia and Syria covering the drugs, arms and organ trades. He has also made documentaries on emergency aid (Haiti and Pakistan) and the prevention of natural catastrophes (Bolivia). He studied history, political sciences and anthropology in Heidelberg, Mexico City and Cologne.

Daniel Dagan– is an Israeli journalist who was born in Cairo and grew up in France and on an Israeli kibbutz. He studied politics and economics and has worked for various publications, as well as radio and TV stations in Jerusalem, Paris, Brussels, Madrid, Bonn, Washington and other capital cities. For years, he reported from Berlin for the Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA), the country' leading public radio and TV station and for the Jerusalem Post.