Lebanese Prime Mminister Calls On Hezbollah To Disarm
UPDATE: Hezbollah to withdraw fighters in Beirut; 12 die in clash
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Hezbollah said Saturday it was withdrawing its gunmen from Beirut neighborhoods seized in sectarian clashes after the army ordered its troops to establish security and called on fighters to clear the streets.
But while tensions in the capital appeared to be defusing, at least 12 people were killed and 20 wounded when pro- and anti-government groups fought in a remote region of northern Lebanon, Lebanese security and hospital officials said. It was the heaviest toll for a single clash since sectarian fighting began on Wednesday.
Hezbollah and its allied seized large swaths of Muslim west Beirut Friday, demonstrating their military might in a power struggle with the government.
Western-backed Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, in his first public statement since the sectarian violence erupted, said Lebanon can no longer tolerate Hezbollah having weapons. He called on the army to restore law and order and remove gunmen from the streets and accused Hezbollah of staging a coup.
After Saniora’s speech, the army called for gunmen to withdraw from the streets of Beirut and reopen the roads. It ordered army units “to continue to take measures on the ground to establish security and spread state authority and arrest the violators.”
(AP)
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BEIRUT, Lebanon - The Lebanese army command ordered its troops Saturday to establish security, calling on all parties to withdraw their gunmen from the streets while offering the opposition Hezbollah a compromise.
Shiite Hezbollah gunmen seized most of the capital’s Muslim sector Friday in the worst sectarian strife since a 15-year civil war ended nearly two decades ago. On Saturday, gunmen stood on the corners of Sunni-dominated neighborhoods though in fewer numbers than the day before.
An army statement said that the airport security chief, whose firing precipitated the latest crisis, will be reinstated. The statement also said that Hezbollah’s controversial communications network will be put under army supervision instead of being dismantled. The measures are seen as conciliatory to Hezbollah and meet some of their demands.
The statement came after Prime Minister Fuad Saniora accused Hezbollah of staging an “armed coup” against Lebanese democracy, and called on the army to restore law and order.
In a nationally televised address, Saniora called on the army “to impose security on all, in all areas, deter the gunmen and immediately remove them from the street … to restore normal life.”
“Hezbollah must realize that the force of arms will not intimidate us or make us retreat from our position,” he said in his first comments since the fighting began.
A total of 25 people have been killed and dozens wounded in the recent violence—the worst sectarian bloodshed since the 1978-90 civil war that killed 150,000 people and left Beirut divided along religious lines.
On Saturday, a Shiite Muslim shop owner opened fire on a Sunni funeral procession, killing two people and wounding six others in a Sunni neighborhood, police and witnesses said.
The shooting underlined the lawlessness that has engulfed the seaside city since Sunni-Shiite violence first erupted four days ago.
Iranian-backed Hezbollah gunmen on Friday took over large swaths of western Beirut from Sunnis loyal to Lebanon’s U.S.-backed government. Many later pulled back, but tensions remained high between supporters of the Shiite militant Hezbollah and the country’s Sunni Muslims.
But Hezbollah’s show of military power was certain to both strengthen its own political position in Lebanon and deeply worry a Middle East and Western world that are nervous about Iran’s growing influence and its intentions in the region.
An Associated Press photographer who witnessed Saturday’s shooting said the attack came as a procession of 200 people marched toward a cemetery to bury a 24-year-old man killed by a sniper’s bullet earlier this week. Two people were killed and six wounded in the shooting, police said.
The shooting occurred even though the Lebanese army had positioned armored personnel carriers and jeeps at every intersection. The neighborhood, Tarik Jadideh, was one of the few Sunni areas Shiite militants had not seized Friday because the army had deployed in large numbers.
Police said troops later captured the gunman. Neighborhood residents identified him as a Shiite shop owner, who opened fire after the procession passed his store. After the attack, angry residents stormed the shop and set it on fire.
The violence has spread to other areas of Lebanon. Police said Saturday that seven people were killed in the mountain town of Aley east of Beirut on Friday. Another civilian died in the clashes in the southern city of Sidon, police said.
The army, which has stayed on the sidelines of the political crisis that has paralyzed Lebanon for more than a year, deployed heavy armor and troops to seal off neighborhoods after Hezbollah militants pulled back.
Hezbollah seized the Sunni neighborhoods of Beirut after its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, on Thursday accused the U.S.-backed government of “declaring war” on the militant group.
Lebanon’s Cabinet had sought to rein in Hezbollah by ordering the removal of an airport security chief over alleged ties to militants and demanding the dismantling of the movement’s private phone network.
Along with seizing neighborhoods, militants also have shut Lebanon’s airport by barricading the road leading to it. The seaport also was closed.
The Shiite fighters’ swift success dramatically empowered the hand of the Hezbollah-led opposition in the bitter political struggle with pro-Western factions over who will guide the country.
The rout of government supporters also was a blow for Washington, which has long considered Hezbollah a terrorist group and condemns its ties to Syria and Iran. The Bush administration has been a strong supporter of Saniora’s government and its army the last three years.
(AP)
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Calling on Hezbollah to DISARM?!
Wish in one hand and crap in the other. See which piles up first!
May 10th, 2008 at 8:39 amKevin M,
how long will it take that he rejoin Hariri’s fate ?
May 10th, 2008 at 8:58 amYou know the Hizzies are laughing at this dude. He may be the face of the government of Lebanon, but the real powerbrokers are in Tehran.
Fire Mission any station this net?
May 10th, 2008 at 9:04 amFor anyone that is interested in a further study of the mindset of the jihadis here is a site that you might find helpful. For those who are beginners in the study of Islam…this is a good place to start too:
http://newsonterror.com/quran.html
We Cold Warriors studied USSR doctrine in order to defaet them. We remembered the words of Sun Tzu.
No reason to forget them in the GWOT either.
May 10th, 2008 at 9:32 amhttp://angryarab.blogspot.com/2008/05/western-reporter-in-lebanon-sent-me.html
Danny boy, no need of preacher there
May 10th, 2008 at 9:56 am@frenchie
May 10th, 2008 at 10:02 amNot interested in your links. I prefer neutral ones.
Not tagiyya and kima required.
neutral ? your kidding
May 10th, 2008 at 10:31 amThe word is you’re not your. Muslim sources being neutral. You bet. I listen to what Muslims say to one another. I’m not interested in the junk they use for Western consumption ala Said or Quutab. I prefer the words of the Qu-ran, Hadith (Bukari), the Sira and the commentaries accepted by the four main branches of Islamic jurisprudence.
May 10th, 2008 at 10:53 amoh, I see, your in the islamic heavens, do you get virgin talks there ?
May 10th, 2008 at 11:01 am@frenchie:
C’mon, I thought you were an intellect frenchie. Is that the best you got? I see once again, you haven’t a clue as to what I’m talking about.
May 10th, 2008 at 11:08 amno, I am impermeable to the spiritual levels, true
though I bet it’s a professional deformation by your’s
May 10th, 2008 at 11:28 am@frenchie:
“your’s” ??? You need a better translator. Yours isn’t working very well. Impermeable? LOL. Taking on the characteristics of rocks eh?
Still you’re no challenge frenchie. You’re unable to offer a sentient thought on the topic so, you resort to your usual sophistry and leftist jargon.
For someone who’s suppose to be an intellect, you prove time and again, that you are not.
May 10th, 2008 at 11:38 amheil my Herr General
May 10th, 2008 at 11:42 am@frenchie
Not very sagacious frenchie.
May 10th, 2008 at 11:56 ammein General you asked me to commit suicide, sofort !
May 10th, 2008 at 11:57 am@frenchie
You don’t know the meaning of the word segacious? Why am I not surprised?
May 10th, 2008 at 12:01 pmWe hope you have all enjoyed this week’s episode of “Debate.”
May 10th, 2008 at 12:45 pm@ Dan
segacious, no but sagacious yes I hope you’ll tell me the difference, I am baba in front of your knowledge
May 10th, 2008 at 1:14 pmKein, I hope there are there dialogues that you can use in one of your writings
May 10th, 2008 at 1:15 pm@frenchie
LOL. Baba…good word…
May 10th, 2008 at 1:44 pm