Curfew imposed in Beirut after clashes

NF Reporter · 01-25-2007, 04:04 PM

AP - University students loyal to Lebanon's government clashed with Hezbollah supporters Thursday, setting cars ablaze and battling with homemade clubs and stones. The melee deepened worries that Lebanon cannot contain the political and sectarian rivalries threatening to push it toward civil war.

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cyxic · 01-27-2007, 09:13 PM

I doubt the US backed government will last for more than a month now. Hezbollah supporters are going to riot unit the government topples.

waltky · 05-11-2008, 12:10 AM

Guess they need him to look the other way while they smuggle arms in from Iran...

Hezbollah to End Armed Presence in Beirut
10 May 2008 - Hezbollah said it would withdraw all its fighters from the streets of Lebanon's capital, after Lebanon's army command said it would retain the pro-Hezbollah security chief at Beirut Airport, whose dismissal sparked this week's clashes between Hezbollah fighters and militias loyal to Lebanon's U.S.-backed government. The army statement followed a nationally televised address by the prime minister urging the army to restore order across the country.

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The Lebanese army command said the airport security chief would remain in his post and that it would look into Hezbollah's controversial communications network. The latest clashes were sparked Tuesday after the government voted to fire the pro-Hezbollah security chief and declare the communications network illegal. The army also called on all gunmen to withdraw from the streets.

The army statement followed a nationally televised address by Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, who demanded that Hezbollah "remove its fighters from the streets… and respect government institutions." He accused Hezbollah of staging an armed coup and called on the army to restore order. He called for dialogue, saying Hezbollah's defense should not be through arms, but through the agreement of all the Lebanese people and via the Lebanese government.

Former Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati begged all politicians to compromise. He said "Lebanon can only be governed through cooperation and entente between all parties." Tensions and scattered violence persisted across parts of Lebanon Saturday, while a precarious calm prevailed in West Beirut. The acrid smell of smoke lingered over Beirut's Hamra district, scene of intense street fighting.

More VOA News - Hezbollah to End Armed Presence in Beirut

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Lebanese violence spreads to mountains outside capital
May 11, `08 - Lebanon hung between fears of all-out war and hopes of political compromise Sunday as government supporters and opponents battled with rockets and machine guns in the mountains overlooking the capital.

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The fighting saw the collapse of pro-government forces in the Aley region, a stronghold of anti-Syrian Druse leader Walid Jumblatt. Beirut was quiet a day after Hezbollah gunmen left the streets, heeding an army call for the Shiite fighters to clear out. The city was the focus of four days of Sunni-Shiite clashes that culminated with Hezbollah seizing large swaths of Muslim West Beirut - demonstrating its military might in a showdown with the government.

Thirty-eight people have been killed since Wednesday, when a power struggle between the Hezbollah-led opposition and the U.S.-backed government began erupting into the worst sectarian violence since Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war. Across the country, there were fears of another slide into civil war. "I don't believe this is the end," said Hala, a 32-year-old employee of an insurance company who lives in a posh area of the Muslim sector that saw fighting three days ago. She declined to give her name for fear of retaliation.

"They haven't solved the problem yet," she added. "There will be another round." But some analysts saw Hezbollah's demonstration of its power as paving the way for a solution to end the political crisis. Analysts said the opposition now appears to have the upper hand, which could force the government to compromise. "The opposition is in control now. These military victories have to be translated politically," said Amal Saad Ghorayeb, a political science professor who is an expert on Hezbollah.

More My Way News - Lebanese violence spreads to mountains outside capital

waltky · 05-14-2008, 04:00 AM

Saudi Arabia tellin' Iran to butt out...

Saudis sends sharp warning to Iran over Lebanon
May 13, `08 - Saudi Arabia sent Iran a sharp warning over Lebanon Tuesday, saying Tehran's support for Hezbollah will damage its relations with other Muslim and Arab countries.

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More soldiers fanned out through Beirut, with orders to use force to restore security to a nation shaken by nearly a week of sectarian clashes. Lebanese buried more of their dead and tried to resume life in a capital dissected by roadblocks. What began as a political struggle 1 1/2 years ago with Shiite ministers bolting from the Cabinet devolved last week into Lebanon's worst fighting since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war, with at least 54 people dead and scores wounded.

Shiite Hezbollah guerrillas and allied Amal gunmen have swept through large Sunni swaths of Beirut, neighborhoods that support the government of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, a Sunni. On Tuesday, the strife between Lebanon's government supporters and opponents expanded into a wider regional standoff between Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia and the world's largest Shiite nation, Iran. Iran supports Hezbollah and Saudi Arabia backs Saniora's Sunni-led government.

"Of course, Iran is backing what happened in Lebanon, a coup, and supports it," Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal told a news conference in Riyadh, in the most pointed criticism of Tehran. "This will affect (Iran's) relations with all Arab countries, if not Islamic states as well." Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad shot back by saying Saud's comments were made in anger and likely did not conform to the views of Saudi King Abdullah. He said Iran was the only country that does not interfere in Lebanon's internal affairs.

More My Way News - Saudis sends sharp warning to Iran over Lebanon