But why the civil war?

*********

Broad answer is much the same throughout the Middle East. Conflicting
values coupled with paradigms that do not allow compromise. The last
civil war in Lebanon was a case of the Christian militias vs. the
Moslem militias, but even in countries with a clear Muslim majority
there is some bitter feuding between divisions. (See the Catholic vs.
Protestant wars, slaughters,
and political manipulations throughout the last several hundreds years
in Europe for a comparison).

Peace in the region has, historically, been maintained by a tribal or
religious leader ascending to power and ruling dictatorially. It takes
more than a desire for "freedom" to create a functioning democracy, and
some of the major elements we rely upon in the west are not at all
present in the culture of the middle east. Perhaps we'll simply
re-learn the lesson that we mastered once befo if we can't turn
every little country into a democratic republic with a capitalist
economy, seeing that the "strong man" running the show is reasonably
humane and favoraby disposed to western interests may be a practical
substitute.