Does anyone remember the old Anne Murray song, Sure Could Use a Little Good News Today? It starts out:

"I rolled out this morning
Kids had the mornin' news show on
Bryant Gumbel was talkin' 'bout the fighting in Lebanon."

That was 1983. Bryant Gumbel is long gone from morning television, but Lebanon is still in turmoil. Don't get me wrong. I am not saying that Lebanon is doomed to perpetual violence, and we should therefore write it off as hopeless. Lebanon is a wonderful place with vibrant people, and I truly believe peace can be won. But it is certainly a long hard slog.

I cannot comprehend the pain and suffering the citizens of Beirut have gone through over these decades. And now the violence is on the upswing again.

Sorting out the players is always difficult, and I cannot claim to have mastery over it. But there are some trusted and credible places I turn on the Web for insights:

Violence Resumes in Tripoli, Beirutt
A short report from The Media Line.

Abu Aardvark
Marc Lynch is a professor of political science at George Washington University, and his blog consistently offers original insights into the Middle East. In a post titled, "Lebanon's crisis not really a Sunni-Shia crisis (unless it is)," he sheds a lot of light on the conflict.

Michael Young
Young is the opinion page editor of the Daily Star in Beirut. In this interview with the Council on Foreign Relations, he explains the strategy of Hezbollah in Lebanon and how the current crisis may play out.

The Beirut Report
Media expert and Beirut reporter Habib Battah began this new blog just in time to cover the current crisis. He has focused on how the television stations in Beirut are being used (and sometimes captured) as part of the larger propaganda battle being waged in Lebanon. The screen shots he has from the popular Future TV being taken over by a militia group are eerie.

On The Face
This blog is maintained by intrepid Israeli journalist Lisa Goldman. She recently posted "Israeli media coverage of Lebanon’s latest crisis" to give us some idea of how Israeli's are seeing and interpreting what is happening to their neighbor.

The Washington Note
The Washington Note has gathered a number of resources for analyzing the situation in a post titled, "Ground Reports from Lebanon."