rise against

For the Lebanese, such talk of encouraging one group to rise against another evokes memories of the civil war, when Lebanon’s religious sects were embroiled in an internecine, hugely destructive conflict that killed more than 150,000 people and turned Beirut into a byword for tragedy.

A once free and diverse press is threatened, violence is on the rise against the Muslim minority, and government agencies have arrested opposition politicians in alleged corruption cases.

Violence is on the rise against the Muslim minority.

But it is down 2% on the year, far behind where most expected it to be in a January poll, when the consensus view was for about a 4% rise against the dollar by the end of this year.

To the east, beyond a windbreak of tough old trees, the Great Sand Dunes rise against the mountains, where for millenniums this same wind has piled up this same sandy soil.