Beirut clashes flare after lull
Not so quiet: Lebanese children play in front of an armoured personnel carrier in Beirut, Lebanon yesterday. For four days Beirut was the focus of clashes between parties. Picture: EPA
Monday, May 12, 2008
AFTER spending one quiet night, Beirut citizens saw again fierce clashes Sunday in mainly Druze areas southeast of Beirut between government supporters and rivals from the Hezbollah-led opposition, prompting appeals for calm from rival Druze leaders.
Heavy machine-gun fire and loud explosions echoed through several villages in the district of Aley, including Aaytat and Baysur. Intense fighting was also reported in Shwayfat.
Jumblatt, a member of the ruling bloc, urged his Druze rival Talal Arslan, allied with the Hezbollah-led opposition, to turn over areas in the mountaine witnessing heavy fighting under army rule to end hostilities.
"Civil peace and halting the destruction are paramount," Jumblatt told Lebanese television, addressing his supporters and urging them to lay down their weapons.
Arslan also called on opposition forces to stop the fighting.
"I call on fighters in the opposition to exert self-control and immediately ceasefire," he said.
Arslan also said he would ask army chief Michel Sleiman to create a strategy for the army to take control of the area.
The unrest came despite a return to calm in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, the scene of fierce sectarian fighting between mainly Sunni supporters of the ruling bloc and Shiite militants loyal to the opposition.
Earlier on Sunday the army deployed throughout Lebanon as clashes broke out between rival factions in the north and southeast while the Arab League met to try to resolve the country's ongoing political crisis.
The capital Beirut was calm with Hezbollah-supported militiamen who had been locked in fierce although one-sided clashes for four days with government-supported opponents having seemingly vanished from the steets.
Fierce battles, however, erupted overnight in Tripoli between supporters of the Western-backed government and members of an Alawite sect loyal to the Hezbollah-led opposition, which is alledgedly backed by both Syria and Iran.
One woman was killed and at least five were wounded in and around the northern city but by mid-morning before the fighting stopped and the army deployed in the affected areas.
Arab League foreign ministers were holding emergency talks in Cairo on the crisis.
In west Beirut, four days of fierce sectarian fighting left nearly 40 dead.Agencies
Heavy machine-gun fire and loud explosions echoed through several villages in the district of Aley, including Aaytat and Baysur. Intense fighting was also reported in Shwayfat.
Jumblatt, a member of the ruling bloc, urged his Druze rival Talal Arslan, allied with the Hezbollah-led opposition, to turn over areas in the mountaine witnessing heavy fighting under army rule to end hostilities.
"Civil peace and halting the destruction are paramount," Jumblatt told Lebanese television, addressing his supporters and urging them to lay down their weapons.
Arslan also called on opposition forces to stop the fighting.
"I call on fighters in the opposition to exert self-control and immediately ceasefire," he said.
Arslan also said he would ask army chief Michel Sleiman to create a strategy for the army to take control of the area.
The unrest came despite a return to calm in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, the scene of fierce sectarian fighting between mainly Sunni supporters of the ruling bloc and Shiite militants loyal to the opposition.
Earlier on Sunday the army deployed throughout Lebanon as clashes broke out between rival factions in the north and southeast while the Arab League met to try to resolve the country's ongoing political crisis.
The capital Beirut was calm with Hezbollah-supported militiamen who had been locked in fierce although one-sided clashes for four days with government-supported opponents having seemingly vanished from the steets.
Fierce battles, however, erupted overnight in Tripoli between supporters of the Western-backed government and members of an Alawite sect loyal to the Hezbollah-led opposition, which is alledgedly backed by both Syria and Iran.
One woman was killed and at least five were wounded in and around the northern city but by mid-morning before the fighting stopped and the army deployed in the affected areas.
Arab League foreign ministers were holding emergency talks in Cairo on the crisis.
In west Beirut, four days of fierce sectarian fighting left nearly 40 dead.Agencies
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