Husam `Itani of As-Safir wrote a column titled "On the Verge of Civil War." It began as follows:
"We are on the verge of civil war. This is what one concludes after listening to chants infused with unprecedented curses voiced in the squares of Shuhada' and Nijmah in the last two days. And across from that are the manifestations of clear celebration in other areas, regarding the event. A deep fissure separates the Lebanese, while the degree of tension signals an eruption of war whenever friction occurs between the increasingly sharply divided parties..."