The town of Zahle was in mourning on Monday, a day after gunmen opened fire at members of the Phalangist Party during an inauguration of a new party office, killing two and wounding three others.

Police have launched a manhunt for the suspects, whom security sources said were Christian supporters of Zahle MP Elie Skaff, who is allied with the Hezbollah-led opposition.

Skaff has denied any involvement in the shooting, which took place at a checkpoint on a road leading to the new Phalangist Party office, insisting the suspects acted independently.

Party leader and former Lebanese President Amin Gemayel said it was a "premeditated act" and blamed opposition leaders for the incident, saying that Christian leaders were "covering up an obvious and terrible plot to spark divisions and ignite a war."

The pro-Western March 14 Coalition, of which the Phalangist Party is a member, accuses Syria of plotting discord among the Lebanese and trying to ignite another civil war.

Gemayel's son, Sami, had apparently just left the inauguration at the time of the shooting. His eldest son, Pierre Gemayel, who was industry minister, was assassinated in November 2006.

Lebanese commentators say the attack not only highlights the growing division among the Maronite Christian community, but signals a dangerous level the political crisis has reached, particularly amid credible reports that some of the parties are arming and training militias.

Lebanon has been gripped by its worst political crisis since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war, as its presidential seat has remained vacant since pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud's term expired last November.

Although the pro-Western government and its allies, and the opposition – backed by Syria and Iran – have agreed on army General Michel Suleiman as the "consensus candidate," parliament has failed to convene 17 times to elect him.

An 18th session due on Tuesday is expected to again be postponed, amid an escalation of hostile language exchanged between the two camps, each accusing the other of foiling attempts for civilized dialogue toward a solution.

Lebanese analysts say that while the political leaders have repeatedly called on their supporters not to take their differences to street violence, this new escalation of rhetoric and a certain degree of incitement threatens more than just skirmishes.

They warn that the army, which has so far remained united and managed to prevent the country from exploding into violent chaos, may not be able to stop feuding parties from taking matters into their own hands for much longer.

No doubt in a state of anger for the loss of his brother in Sunday's shooting, Phalangist Party official Elie Marouni, for example, vowed to turn over the killers and execute them without trial, according to Lebanon's Future TV.

Many Lebanese who experienced the horrors of the 15-year civil war, and who spoke to the Middle East Times, accuse the politicians of being in a state of denial that their continued wrangling and failure to resolve the crisis is leading toward another war.

"Haven't 15 years of hiding in the toilets been enough?" is the title of a unique artistic display of 600 white toilet seats spread across an empty plot of land in downtown Beirut, commemorating the civil war and warning against the eruption of another, as the politicians beat the drums of hatred.

The toilet seats, on which audiences sit to watch nightly live music concerts, symbolize the bathrooms where the Lebanese used to hide during the war. Bathrooms had no glass windows that would shatter in a bomb or sniper attack.

Lebanon's Information Minister Ghazi Aridi, from the anti-Syrian and Druze-dominated Progressive Socialist Party, told the Middle East Times in an interview at his Beirut home he does not see another war coming, and downplayed the amount of weapons in the hands of the political parties as being "minimal."

"There are very few weapons and these are less worrying than skirmishes in the streets to try to confuse the army and create an adverse atmosphere," Aridi said, a day before the shooting. "The political hatred we are living in and the accusations of treason [against the government and its allies by the opposition] are much more dangerous than the weapons."

He indicated that the outside forces using the Lebanese parties as their proxies – be they Iran and Syria in terms of the opposition or the United States and the West supporting the March 14 alliance – would not want to ignite another war in Lebanon.

"The decision for war is much bigger than Lebanon," Aridi said, adding that the country is so linked to the foreign powers that such a decision, the financing and arming can only come from the external key players.

"We are a small country and we've always been influenced by the surrounding elements," Aridi said. "Whether we like it or not, Lebanon gets affected.

"The question is: Are we in agreement in Lebanon over our Lebanese identity and that our highest priority is to protect Lebanon from what is happening in our surroundings and the world?" Aridi asked, and then answered: "Unfortunately, no."