05-09-2008, 10:13 AM
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#11 (permalink)
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Patron
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bolo121
Israel might feel compelled to move if Hezbollah looks to be winning.. Could we see Israeli airstrikes and limited ground raids soon?
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Well, Hezbollah looks to be winning now as the Lebanese army is doing nothing:
Quote:
Hezbollah gunmen seize large areas of Beirut
Scenes reminiscent of civil war as fighters roam streets of Lebanese capital
MSNBC News Services
updated 6:33 a.m. PT, Fri., May. 9, 2008
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Lebanon’s Iranian-backed Hezbollah took control of large areas of Beirut on Friday, tightening its grip on the city in a major blow to the U.S.-backed government after three days of intense fighting.
Security sources said at least 11 people had been killed and 30 wounded in three days of battles between pro-government gunmen and fighters loyal to Hezbollah, a Shiite political movement with a powerful guerrilla army.
The fighting, the worst internal strife since the 1975-90 civil war, was triggered this week after the government took decisions targeting Hezbollah’s military communications network. The group said the government had declared war.
Wider implications?
The fighting could have implications for the entire Middle East at a time when Sunni-Shiite tensions are high. The tensions are fueled in part by the rivalry between predominantly Shiite Iran, which sponsors Hezbollah, and Sunni Arab countries like Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
In scenes reminiscent of the darkest days of the civil war, young men armed with assault rifles roamed the streets amid smashed cars and smoldering buildings.
The sound of exploding grenades and automatic gunfire echoed across a city still rebuilding from the 1975-90 conflict.
‘It was terrifying during the night’
The dead included a woman and her 30-year-old son, who were killed when trying to flee Ras al-Nabae — a mixed Sunni-Shiite Beirut district and scene of some of the heaviest clashes.
“They were trying to flee to the mountains. Instead ... they reached the hospital, dead,” said a relative of the victims, who declined to give her name because of security fears.
“It was terrifying during the night. We couldn’t even move about in the house,” said another woman — a resident of Ras al-Nabae who had fled the area at first light with her children. “We spent the night in the corridor.”
Saudi Arabia, a strong backer of the governing coalition, called for an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers over the crisis, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television reported.
Hezbollah gunmen took control of media outlets owned by governing coalition leader Saad Hariri, Lebanon’s strongest Sunni politician. Hariri’s television and radio stations went off the air.
Hezbollah, a Shiite group also backed by Syria, has been steadily seizing offices of pro-government factions in the predominantly Muslim western half of the city.
Backed by the Shiite Amal group, Hezbollah fighters have been handing control of the offices to the army — which is trying to play a neutral role in the crisis.
Blow to government
A security source told Reuters that Hezbollah and its allies were in control all of the mainly Muslim half of Beirut except for one district where pro-government gunmen are in talks to lay down their weapons.
The gunmen in Tarek al-Jadeedi, a Sunni area whose residents are loyal to Hariri, were in contact with Hezbollah to surrender, the source told Reuters.
“It certainly leaves the government weaker and the Future movement weaker,” said Paul Salem, director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut. “Hezbollah is dominating most of west Beirut.”
But the group did not want to be seen as “occupiers of Beirut” by keeping its fighters in areas whose residents’ political loyalties lie with Hariri or his allies, he said. Handing control to the army appeared the most likely exit.
Hezbollah also kept its grip on roads leading to Beirut’s international airport, which has been mostly paralyzed since Wednesday. National carrier Middle East Airlines said all of its flights would be postponed until Saturday and Beirut seaport authority shut down the facility.
Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said Thursday the government had declared of war by declaring the communications network illegal. The fighting intensified after he finished speaking.
Hezbollah on Thursday rejected a proposal by Hariri to end the crisis. Nasrallah said the government must rescind its decisions and attend talks aimed at ending the political crisis.
The U.N. Security Council called for “calm and restraint,” urging all sides to return to peaceful dialogue. The White House urged Hezbollah to stop “disruptive” acts and France, another firm backer of Hariri, called for a peaceful resolution.
Hezbollah, backed by Iran and Syria, has led a 17-month-long political campaign against Prime Minister Fuad Saniora’s anti-Syrian cabinet.
The group was the only Lebanese faction allowed to keep its weapons after the civil war to fight Israeli forces occupying the south. Israel withdrew in 2000 and the fate of Hezbollah’s weapons is at the heart of the political crisis.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
URL: Hezbollah gunmen seize large areas of Beirut - Mideast/N. Africa - MSNBC.com
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