That's how it was in Lebanon back in 1974 and 1975, just before the outbreak of civil war: labor strikes turning violent, protesters blocking roads, setting tires on fire, clashing with police or each other, militias taking to the streets and marking their turf until, on April 13, 1975, the civil war broke out in earnest. It lasted 15 years and claimed 150,000 to 200,000 lives in a country of less than 4 million.

And that's how it's felt this week in Lebanon as a General Labor Confederation strike turned violent today. As always in Lebanon, a mishmash of causes and grievances latch on to seemingly unrelated events and explode into uncontrollable circumstances. The confederation represents the country's labor unions, much like the AFL-CIO in the United States. The confederation called the general strike to protest rising prices and demand an increase in the minimum wage. Meanwhile, the Lebanese government has been confronting Hezbollah, the Shiite opposition group and militia, over Hezbollah's installation of an illegal telephone and surveillance-camera network around Beirut's international airport and in South Lebanon. The Lebanese government wants the cameras and the network removed. Hezbollah claims it's paerty of its defenses against Israel (the telephone network was used by hezbollah during its 2006 war with Israel).

What does the labor strike have to do with Hezbollah's spy network? Nothing. But when the Lebanese government sacked the airport's security chief over his refusal to stop Hezbollah from setting up its spy cameras, Hezbollah used the labor strike as an excuse to take to the streets, allegedly on the side of protesters, to block roads (including the road to the airport), set tires and cars on fire, and engage in gun battles with Sunni gunmen. In Lebanon as in Iraq, Sunnis and Shiites, though Muslims both, despise each other.

Violence escalated from there. The Lebanese army was seen rushing from clash to clash to keep Sunnis and Shiites from battling each other, although the army has yet to confront Hezbollah directly over the closing of the airport road or Hezbollah's spy cameras.

To many Lebanese, this is all too reminiscent of the months leading up to the 1975-1990 civil war. Lebanese press reports quote many saying that the tensions of the last 17 months are finally exploding into outright warfare. For those 17 months, Lebanon has been gripped by a constitutional crisis over the choice of a new president. The crisis pits the western-backed government against a Hezbollah-led opposition backed by Syria and Iran. What has so far been a proxy war between those forces may finally erupt into open conflict.