Posted on 05/12/2008 8:29:41 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Heavy fighting broke out Monday between government supporters and opponents in Lebanon's second-largest city, where the two sides battled with rocket-propelled grenades, heavy machine guns and mortars, security officials and residents said.
Residents said they heard strong explosions reverberating through Tripoli. At least six people were wounded, security officials said.
The fighting had stopped Sunday morning after Lebanese troops deployed between the two sides, then flared again Monday after soldiers pulled back when the situation calmed.
The fresh clashes erupted when pro-government forces thought opponents gathering for a funeral in a nearby neighborhood were preparing a new attack, the security officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.
Near Beirut, paramedics said at least 16 people were killed in fighting Sunday in the mountains overlooking the capital. More than 20 people were wounded, they said, also on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.
The fighting in the town of Chouweifat calmed late Sunday after Druse leader Walid Jumblatt called on his Druse opponents, who are allied with Hezbollah, to mediate a cease-fire and hand over the region to Lebanese troops.
Iran's state-run Press TV reported on its Web site that 17 opposition fighters were killed in the mountain clashes. It did not elaborate, and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia refused to comment.
Officials could not immediately provide casualty figures from other mountain towns where fighting also raged a day earlier. But the latest deaths pushed to 54 the number of people killed since violence erupted Wednesday, in the worst internal clashes since the end of the 1975-90 civil war.
The unrest began last week when Lebanon's government decided to sack the chief of airport security for alleged ties to Hezbollah, and also declared the militant group's private telephone network illegal. Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said the decisions amounted to a declaration of war.
Arab foreign ministers met in Egypt on Sunday and pledged to send a delegation to Beirut to help find a solution. The delegation was expected in Beirut on Tuesday.
The Hezbollah-led opposition issued a statement welcoming the planned visit.
Meanwhile, shops began opening in the capital and more civilians were seen emerging from their homes, though traffic was lighter than usual. Many schools and universities were still closed.
A minor clash broke out at dawn between government supporters and Hezbollah-allied pro-Syrian gunmen in the busy Hamra district, security officials said on condition of anonymity, also because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Two cameramen for Al-Jazeera television, who arrived at the scene to cover the shooting, were lightly wounded and briefly hospitalized, the channel said.
Most gunmen have withdrawn from Beirut's streets, but those from the Hezbollah-allied Syrian Social Nationalist Party remain posted outside the party's offices in the Hamra and Rawche areas. Hamra is adjacent to the residence of top Sunni pro-government leader Saad Hariri, which is ringed by army commandos.
After the civil war ended in 1990, all of Lebanon's various militias surrendered their weapons and transformed into political parties, keeping only small arms. Only Hezbollah was allowed to keep its arms because it was considered a resistance movement battling Israel.
But over the years, the groups have accumulated more weapons and reasserted control in different areas.
Major roads in Beirut, including the main airport highway, were still blocked Monday with huge sand barriers. The road closures are part of what the Hezbollah-led opposition has called a "civil disobedience" campaign, which it has vowed to continue until the government reconsiders the two decisions that sparked the violence.
The Hezbollah-led opposition quit the Cabinet 18 months ago, demanding larger representation that would give them veto power over government decisions. The deadlock has kept parliament from electing a new president since November.
Army commander Gen. Michel Suleiman is the consensus candidate for president and the army's success in calming Beirut over the weekend could enhance his chances of being elected.
But Hezbollah's show of force in Beirut served a blow to Washington. The U.S. has long considered Hezbollah a terrorist group and condemned its ties to Syria and Iran. The Bush administration has been a strong supporter of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora's government and its army for the last three years.
Gee - that worked out well...
Smoke billows as a Lebanese pro-government supporter flashes the victory sign and holds a poster of assassinated former premier Rafiq Hariri in the northern city of Tripoli. US President George W. Bush heads back to the Middle East this week, where his efforts to forge Israeli-Palestinian peace face growing skepticism with barely nine months left in his term. (AFP)
Hezbollah supporters shout during a funeral of two of their comrades in south of Beirut May 12, 2008. Iranian-backed Hezbollah and its pro-Syrian allies have swept through Beirut and hills to the east, routing loyalists of the U.S.-backed government before handing its conquests to the Lebanese army, which has stayed out of the fighting. One source said the dead in Sunday's battles included 14 Hezbollah fighters. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj (LEBANON)
Now all we need is Green Helmet Guy.
no big surprise here -
Intelligence Report: Iran Behind Lebanon Fighting
(IsraelNN.com) Undercover American intelligence officials in Beirut said Monday that Iran is conducting the current fighting between Hizbullah and government forces that has killed more than 50 people in the past five days.
Persian-language top secret documents signed by senior Revolutionary Guards officials and seized from the Iranian embassy in Beirut outline Tehran’s support for the current uprising and future relations between the Islamic Republic and Hizbullah leaders, who they expect will become the leaders of Lebanon.
[link to www.israelnationalnews.com]
reuters agrees.. just posted this..
Mountain clashes bring Lebanon death toll to 81
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2014813/posts
excerpt
Iranian-backed Hezbollah and its pro-Syrian allies have swept through Beirut and hills to the east, defeating loyalists of the U.S.-backed government before handing its conquests to the Lebanese army, which has stayed out of the fighting.
bwtn this and the situation brewing in Israel (Olmert may be on his way out, and looks like no cease fire bwtn Israel and Hamas), it looks to be an interesting week in the region
When will they break out the picture of the Guy caring around the baby killed by the Israeli’s in Gaza and during the last Lebanon war. You know the picture the one they keep reposting and the world goes crazy and anti-Israel over.
Is he the guy carrying the dead baby that the Israeli’s get blamed on every time a Israel strikes back?
High volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel, WOT
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After the civil war ended in 1990, all of Lebanon's various militias surrendered their weapons and transformed into political parties, keeping only small arms. Only Hezbollah was allowed to keep its arms because it was considered a resistance movement battling Israel.
Hezbollah wasn't allowed to remained armed, the idea that they have only small arms is absurd, they simply didn't lay them down.
Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, speaks from his hiding place, via a video link, during a press conference live on television, in a suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday May 8, 2008. Hezbollah's leader said Thursday that the Lebanese government declared war by deeming the Shiite militant group's private telecommunications network illegal and a threat to state security. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
An image grab taken from the Hezbollah-run Manar TV shows Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah delivering a televised speech from an undisclosed location. Hezbollah gunmen seized control of west Beirut after a third day of battles with pro-government foes in the Lebanese capital pushed the nation dangerously close to all-out civil war. (AFP/MANAR TV)
Very good, all them money and arms that were meant to defeat America in Iraq went to a nearby, weak country instead, those Americans can’t be defeated by ragtags.
So, when Iraq is finally under the complete control of the Iraqi gov’t, the Syrians have helped scratch Iran’s name off the top of the to-do list. Damn, that Assad family is SMART.
Notice how AP, Al-Reuters, and the rest of the islamofacism supporting MSM always use the term “U.S.-backed” whenever a middle-eastern country that the US has political relations with gets attacked. Parasites.
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