If there’s one thing we Americans understand all too well, it’s that you don’t want to be a little guy, all alone in a rough neighborhood. Everybody wants your fealty and your support – the gangs, the outlaws, the cops, the clerics, the teachers and the mob. Because you’re small, and all alone, you have to pick a side, throw in your lot, make a choice even when all your really want to do is spend idyllic days on the beautiful white sand beaches and exotic nights on General De Gaulle Boulevard.

It’s like that for Lebanon. Historic sectarian melting pot, this Mediterranean jewel finds herself squeezed between Israel, Syria and Jordan, and increasingly squeezed by the ideological hardening of the factions in a tumultuous and unstable region. In spite of the thirty-year presence of the UNIFIL “peacekeeping” mission in Lebanon, paroxysms of violence and bloodletting occur with a clockwork regularity. The 2005 assassination of Rafik Hariri brought about the end of the Syrian occupation, but would lead to a UN investigation with deadly implications. After the destructive 2006 war with Israel – a war that Hezbollah won by not losing and that Israel lost by not winning, things just got more complicated for the little nation in a rough neighborhood. In 2008, the Doha Agreement created a government of National Unity that included Hezbollah as an equal partner. This rare period of stability has allowed Lebanon to rebuild, and once again take their place as the number one tourist destination for the Arab Middle East.

Unfortunately, the presence of the Hezbollah opposition in the Lebanese government did not lead to peace with her neighbors. Israel was angered and increasingly hostile to the Suleiman-led Lebanese government, fearing that being part of a legitimate government gave Hezbollah access to weapons and resources not available to them previously. UNIFIL was supposed to keep the peace by patrolling a southern Lebanese border region, but complaints that the UN contingent favored the Israeli position and enabled their agenda have continued, even increased.

Which brings us to last Tuesday morning. The Israelis were clearing trees near the disputed “blue line”, something they like to do to improve the sightlines (or field of fire) into Southern Lebanon. Apparently, the Lebanese military complained, and UNIFIL was attempting to mediate the dispute when the shooting started. When it ended, there were five dead and an important Rubicon had been crossed. In the 2006 war, the Lebanese military tried mightily to stay out of the fighting, which was primarily between Israel and Hezbollah. Last week, Hezbollah stood down while the uniformed troops engaged. Lebanese President Suleiman later said that the armed forces of Lebanon would not stand by and allow Lebanon to be attacked or invaded again.

If that wasn’t enough tension in one very small place, press reports have it that the UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon has completed it’s work, and instead of (or in addition to, it’s not completely clear) indictments of Syrians for the Hariri assassination, they will be indicting members of Hezbollah. When the final report is released, it could mean blood in the ancient streets of Beirut. Again.

There are a number of hot zones scattered around the planet this summer, and all bear watching. But there’s something especially tragic about war clouds gathering once again over a small seaside nation that had the misfortune to be a little guy in a bad neighborhood.