Godlike Productions - News: Lebanon Clashes Resume as Death Toll From Fighting Reaches 50

02:46 PM

News

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Breaking News Back

Lebanon Clashes Resume as Death Toll From Fighting Reaches 50

Bloomberg

2008-05-12

Clashes erupted between Shiite Muslim gunmen allied to the Hezbollah-led Lebanese opposition and supporters of the U.S.-backed government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora near Lebanon's border with Syria.

``There was some gunfire at the town of Masna and some shelling and there is an ongoing investigation,'' Army Brigadier Saleh Haj Suleiman said today in a phone interview from Beirut.

Violence in Lebanon broke out May 7 after the government threatened to dismantle a Hezbollah telecommunications network discovered at Beirut's international airport and fired the head of airport security. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, whose group fought a 33-day war against Israel in 2006, defended the installation of the once-secret surveillance system, saying it was needed to protect Lebanon from Israeli invasion.

Fighting between Hezbollah fighters and Druze backers of Walid Jumblatt yesterday, in the Mount Lebanon towns of Aley and Shweifat, has stopped and a cease-fire is in place, Suleiman said. ``The army is spreading in the area and the situation is now stable,'' he said. Last week's fighting killed about 50 people, Suleiman said.

In an interview with LBC television yesterday, Jumblatt urged his rival Talal Arslan, who is also from the Druze community and allied with the Hezbollah-led opposition, to help stop the fighting and place the area under the control of the army.

Jumblatt leads a Druze party that is aligned with Siniora. Arslan leads a small Druze faction aligned with Hezbollah.

Calm returned to Beirut after Siniora allowed the military to reinstate the head of airport security, fired over the existence of the spy system, and left the phone lines under Hezbollah's control.

Control of Beirut

Hezbollah subsequently handed control of Beirut to the Lebanese army. The Shiite party and its allies, including Christian leader Michel Aoun and the Amal group, has been trying to oust the Siniora government for 18 months, since the militant Islamic group's lawmakers walked out of the cabinet after demanding veto powers over decisions.

This month's unrest has been the most violent, as the political standoff spilled over into sectarian conflict between Shiites, Sunnis and Christians. Some of the buildings scarred by bullets from the latest fighting still bear marks from Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.

Arab foreign ministers who met in Egypt yesterday said they will send a high-level delegation headed by Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa to try to resolve the situation in Lebanon.

Email Article

Discuss in the Forum

Back

Vote For Godlike Productions!

Disclaimer:
This website exists for entertainment purposes only. The reader is responsible for discerning the validity, factuality or implications of information posted here, be it fictional or based on real events. Moderators on this forum make every effort to review the material posted on this site however, it is not realistically possible for our small staff to manually review each and every one of the more than 5000 posts GodlikeProductions gets on a daily basis. The content of posts
on this site, including but not limited to links to other web sites, are the expressed opinion of the original poster and are in no way representative of or endorsed by the owners or administration of this website. The posts on this website are the opinion of the specific author and are not statements of advice, opinion, or factual information on behalf of the owner or administration of GodlikeProductions. This site may contain adult content and if you feel you might be offended by such content, you should log off immediately.

Not all posts on this website are intended as truthful or factual assertion by their authors. Some users of this website are participating in internet role playing, with or without the use of an avatar. NO post on this website should be considered factual information on face value alone. Users are encouraged to USE DISCERNMENT and do their own follow up research while reading and posting on this website. Godlikeproductions.com reserves the right to make changes to, corrections and/or remove entirely at any time posts made on this website without notice. In addition, Godlikeproductions.com disclaims any and all liability for damages incurred directly or indirectly as a result of a post on this website.

This site is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. You should not assume that this site is error-free or that it will be suitable for the particular purpose which you have in mind when using it. In no event shall Godlikeproductions.com be liable for any special, incidental, indirect or consequential damages of any kind, or any damages whatsoever, including, without limitation, those resulting from loss of use, data or profits, whether or not advised of the possibility of damage, and on any theory of liability, arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of this site or other documents which are referenced by or linked to this site.

Some events depicted in certain posting and threads on this website may be fictitious and any similarity to any person living or dead is merely coincidental. Some other articles may be based on actual events but which in certain cases incidents, characters and timelines have been changed for dramatic purposes. Certain characters may be composites, or entirely fictitious.

We do not discriminate against the mentally ill!

Fair Use Notice:
This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Users may make such material available in an effort to advance awareness and understanding of issues relating to civil rights, economics, individual rights, international affairs, liberty, science & technology, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C.Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
For more information please visit:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml

This Disclaimer is subject to change at anytime.

Mail Webmaster with questions or comments about this site.

Page generated in 0.014s (1 queries)