New Civil War in Lebanon?

Hezbollah gunmen seize control of Beirut neighborhoods
By BASSEM MROUE, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 1 minute ago
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Shiite Hezbollah gunmen seized nearly all of the Lebanese capital's Muslim sector from Sunni foes loyal to the U.S.-backed government on Friday in the country's worst sectarian clashes since the 15-year civil war.

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At least 11 people have been killed and more than 20 wounded in three days of street battles in West Beirut between the Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah fighters and gunmen to the government, security officials said.

The satellite TV station affiliated with the party of Lebanon's top Sunni lawmaker, Saad Hariri, was forced off the air. Gunmen set the offices of the party's newspaper, Al-Mustaqbal, on fire in the coastal neighborhood of Ramlet el-Bayda.

Hariri and Druse leader Walid Jumblatt were besieged in their West Beirut residences. Prime Minister Fuad Saniora and several ministers holed up in Saniora's downtown office surrounded by troops and police.

Gunmen loyal to the Syrian Social Nationalist Party set ablaze a two-story building where Hariri's Future TV has its archives in the western neighborhood of Rawche, about 100 yards from the Saudi embassy. The secular pro-Syrian group, a longtime ally of Hezbollah, has dozens of its own gunmen in the streets.

A rocket-propelled grenade hit the fence of Hariri's heavily protected residence, security officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak to the media.

Pro-government majority officials held an emergency meeting in a mountain town in the Christian heartland northeast of Beirut, according to LBC TV, a pro-government Christian station.

"Even if Hezbollah's militia took everything we remain the constitutional authority," Cabinet Minister Ahmed Fatfat told Al-Arabiya TV from Saniora's compound.

The unrest shut down Lebanon's international airport and barricades set up by both side closed major highways. The seaport also was closed, leaving one land route to Syria as Lebanon's only link to the outside world.

Arab foreign ministers called an emergency meeting for Sunday in Cairo, Egypt to discuss the crisis, Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said.

About 100 Shiite Hezbollah militants wearing camouflage uniforms and carrying assault rifles marched down Hamra Street, a normally vibrant commercial strip in a mainly Sunni area of Beirut. They took up positions in corners and sidewalks and stopped the few cars braving the empty streets to search their trunks.

On nearby streets, dozens of fighters from another Hezbollah-allied party appeared, some wearing masks and carrying rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

Lebanon's army, which has stayed out of the sectarian political squabbling that has paralyzed the country for more than a year, did not intervene in the clashes, which had largely tapered off into sporadic gunfire by early afternoon.

Troops then began taking up positions in some Sunni neighborhoods abandoned by the pro-government groups. A senior security official said the army would soon take over the Sunnis' last stronghold of Tarik Jadideh.

In some cases Hezbollah handed over newly won positions to Lebanese troops.

The sectarian tensions are fueled in part by the rivalry between predominantly Shiite Iran which sponsors Hezbollah, and Sunni Arab countries like Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

The leaders of Syria, Hezbollah's other major backer, and Qatar, which supports the Lebanese government, met in Damascus and Syria's official news agency said both agreed the conflict was an internal affair and hoped the feuding parties would find a solution through dialogue.

France's Foreign Ministry said an evacuation of its citizens in Lebanon was not planned, but warned against travel to the country.

In an online briefing, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Pascale Andreani called on French nationals in Lebanon to act with the "utmost prudence."

The Lebanese government, which is allied with the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, has only a slim majority in parliament. The two sides have been locked in a power struggle that has kept government at a standstill and the country without a president since November.

The eruption of the long-simmering tensions appeared to be triggered by the government's decision this week to confront Hezbollah by declaring its private communications network illegal and replacing the Beirut airport security chief for alleged ties to the militants.

Hezbollah first blocked roads in Beirut on Wednesday. Confrontations quickly spread and became more violent. Factions threw up roadblocks and checkpoints dividing Beirut into sectarian enclaves, and the chattering of automatic weapons and thumps of rocket-propelled grenades echoed across the city overnight.

Street clashes exploded into gunbattles in parts of Beirut on Thursday afternoon after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah accused Lebanon's Western-backed government of declaring war on his group. It was the militant leader's strongest comments since Lebanon's political crisis erupted 17 months ago.

Hariri later went on television urging Hezbollah to pull its fighters back and "save Lebanon from hell." He proposed a compromise that would involve the army, one of the sole national institutions respected by Lebanon's long deadlocked factions.

But Hezbollah and its allies swiftly rejected the offer.

Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war left 150,000 dead and much of the city devastated and carved into warring sectarian enclaves.

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Clashes in northern and eastern Lebanon, outside Beirut By BASSEM MROUE, Associated Press Writer
Sun May 11, 12:41 PM ET



BEIRUT, Lebanon - Supporters of Lebanon's U.S.-backed government and opponents battled with rockets and machine guns in the mountains overlooking Beirut Sunday as clashes shifted to outside the capital.

Beirut was quiet a day after Hezbollah gunmen left the streets, heeding an army call for the Shiite fighters to clear out. The city had been 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.

So far, 38 people have been killed in clashes that began Wednesday, the worst sectarian violence since Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.

The violence grew out of a long-simmering power struggle between the Hezbollah-led opposition and the U.S.-backed government. The opposition quit the Cabinet 17 months ago, demanding a veto over all government decisions. The deadlock has kept parliament from electing a new president since November.

Hezbollah's demonstration of its power over the past week was a blow 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.

The conflict also has heightened concerns in the Middle East and the West over Iran's growing influence and its intentions in the region.

The worst violence over the weekend was outside of Beirut. On Sunday, heavy fighting broke out in the central mountain town of Aytat and the sounds of heavy machine gunfire and explosions from the clashes rolled across Beirut, 9 miles away.

As the fighting raged in the mountain region, black smoke could be seen billowing from Druse villages.

Pro-government supporters of Druse leader Walid Jumblatt and Shiite gunmen and their allies exchanged rockets and machine gunfire, security officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The violence spread to the nearby towns of Kayfoun, Qamatiyeh, Bchamoun and Chouweifat, they said. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The clashes came a day after Hezbollah accused Jumblatt's followers of killing two of their supporters and kidnapping a third.

The Aley region is predominantly Druse and Maronite Christians. However, two villages in the area are dominated by Shiites, many of them Hezbollah supporters.

Jumblatt called on his top Druse opponent to mediate a cease-fire and hand over the mountain region to Lebanese troops.

Shortly afterward, Talal Erslan, the leading Druse leader in the opposition, called at a news conference for all opposition groups to cease fire immediately in the mountains. He urged Jumblatt's supporters to hand over their weapons and offices to the army.

Jumblatt, speaking to private LBC television, implicitly called on his militiamen to give up their positions and hand them over to the army.

"I say to my followers that civil peace and stopping the war and destruction is above any other consideration," he said.

Overnight, there were fierce clashes in the north, particularly in the city of Tripoli where pro-government supporters exchanged rocket propelled grenades and heavy machine gun fire with opposition followers, security officials said. One woman was killed.

The clashes were over by morning when the Lebanese army deployed on the streets to separate the warring factions.

The sectarian clashes began days after the government confronted Hezbollah with decision to sack the chief of airport security for alleged ties to the militant group and to declare Hezbollah's private telephone network illegal.

The army offered Hezbollah a compromise on Saturday, allowing the airport security chief to retain his post and recommending the government to reverse its decision on the phone network.

A government official said Sunday the Cabinet would meet in the next two days "to discuss the possible exits for the crisis." It is widely believed the cabinet will then revoke its decisions. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

At midday, Saniora and some of his ministers and staff observed a moment of silence at the government building in honor of those killed in violence. A nearby downtown church tolled its bells to mark the occasion.

Beirut's streets were largely deserted Sunday, a day off in Lebanon. Many roads remained blocked, including the one to the airport, by the ongoing civil disobedience campaign of the opposition

In the western Beirut neighborhood of Karakol Druse, which saw heavy fighting Thursday, a man swept glass outside his shop. A gaping hole from a rocket propelled grenade and bullet holes marked the facade of a normally busy bakery, now closed.

There were few signs of gunmen openly carrying weapons, save for small knots of Hezbollah allies from the Syrian Social Nationalist Party sitting outside the Economy Ministry in one seaside district.

On Beirut's normally bustling seaside corniche, workers outside five-star hotels cleaned blackened streets scarred by burning tires.

Arab foreign ministers met in Egypt to try to find a solution to the latest deadly crisis. They called for an immediate halt to the violence and for all gunmen to pull out of Beirut.

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