Two groups of young men — one Sunni, the other Shiite — got into a fight July 1 in the Saadiyat area, 20 kilometers (roughly 12 miles) south of Beirut, as young Shiite men hung religious banners in their mosques, which the Sunni youth considered provocative. Had the incident not carried deep connotations and potential dangerous repercussions, it could have just been another ordinary news item.