2 Dead As Shiites, Sunnis Clash In Lebanon

Street Battles Erupt In Beirut As Sectarian Violence Evokes Bitter Memories Of Civil War

(AP)  Shiite Hezbollah supporters and Sunnis backing Lebanon's U.S.-allied government battled Thursday in the streets of Beirut with guns, stones and rocket-propelled grenades killing two people in a second day of sectarian violence that has evoked bitter memories of the country's long civil war.

Fighting intensified after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned of swift retaliation to any attacks on them. Rival Sunni politician Rafik Hariri later attempted to calm the situation by offering a compromise.

"My appeal to you and to myself as well, the appeal of all Lebanon, is to stop the slide towards civil war, to stop the language of arms and lawlessness," said Hariri, the son of a slain former prime minister, in a televised appeal to Nasrallah.

Earlier, the Hezbollah leader accused the government of declaring war on his group with its recent decision to shut down the Shiite militants' private telecommunications network. He warned against trying to disarm the group.

"Those who try to arrest us, we will arrest them. Those who shoot at us, we will shoot at them. The hand raised against us, we will cut it off," Nasrallah said in a news conference via videolink from his hiding place that was broadcast live on television.

Within minutes of his address machine gun fire and explosions rang out in the Muslim western sector of Beirut as masked gunmen opened fire on street corners. In troubled neighborhoods, people stayed indoors, huddled in hallways or staircases as armed men rushed from one street corner to another.

Others took their families and moved to safer neighborhoods while people stocked up on food, standing in lines at supermarkets.

"There is so much shooting and explosions outside," said Beirut resident Ghada Helmi. "Our building is in the middle of the fighting," the terrified woman said by telephone.

The clashes also spread outside the capital Thursday and shut down the country's main gateways to the outside world.

The violence appeared to be a test of wills between the Hezbollah-led opposition and the Western-backed government who have been locked in a 17-month power struggle. But there was a risk the escalation could degenerate into a wider and deadlier sectarian conflict.

That could also have implications for the entire Mideast at a time when Sunni-Shiite tensions already are high. The tensions are fueled in part by the growing rivalry between Iran, which sponsors Hezbollah, and Sunni Arab countries like Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Egypt said it will convene an emergency Arab Foreign Ministers meeting to discuss the situation in Lebanon, according to the foreign minister's spokesman Hossam Zaki. He didn't say when.

In Lebanon, the Sunnis' spiritual leader - a government ally - denounced Hezbollah and appealed to a largely Sunni Islamic world to intervene. Arab heavyweights Saudi Arab and Egypt, both strong supporters of the U.S.-backed government, urged parties in Lebanon to restore calm and avoid sectarian clashes.

The latest round of violence was touched off by the government's decision Tuesday to confront Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah.

It declared its military telecommunications network illegal, saying it was a threat to state security. The government also said it would dismiss the security chief of the country's only international airport because he was suspected of ties to Hezbollah.

Hezbollah runs its own secure network of primitive private land lines. Nasrallah has said the network helped the guerrillas fight Israel's hi-tech army in the 2006 summer war. He and other Hezbollah leaders have suggested they are regularly targeted by Israel and they need secure communications.

Nasrallah said the decision to declare its network illegal is "tantamount to a declaration of war ... on the resistance and its weapons in the interest of America and Israel."

"I am not declaring war. I am declaring a decision of self-defense," he said. The government has "crossed all the red lines. We will not be lenient with anyone."

Nasrallah said Maj. Gen. Wafiq Shukeir, the airport security chief that the government decided to remove, will stay in his post, rejecting any replacement.

The government's decision to replace him came after pro-government leader Walid Jumblatt alleged Hezbollah had set up cameras near the airport - which is located in the Hezbollah stronghold of south Beirut - to monitor the movement of anti-Syrian Lebanese politicians and foreign dignitaries. Jumblatt suggested Hezbollah was planning to bomb aircraft to assassinate such figures.

Nasrallah said the only way out of the confrontation is for the government to revoke its decision.

In Beirut, Hezbollah supporters kept the road to the airport blocked for a second day Thursday. There were no incoming flights on Thursday and many of the outgoing ones were either postponed or canceled.

In an apparent retaliation for the airport siege, government supporters blocked the main coastal highway linking Beirut with predominantly Shiite southern Lebanon.

Pro-government Sunnis also blocked the highway linking Beirut to the border with Syria in the eastern Bekaa Valley. They set up burning tires and mounds of earth near the main border crossing to Syria.

Cabinet Minister Ahmed Fatfat, a government supporter, accused Hezbollah of staging a "coup."

"Hezbollah ... is trying to blackmail the Lebanese government by taking the airport as an economic and political hostage," he told Associated Press Television News.

But Nasrallah denied the coup accuastion.

The army, which has remained above the political fray, has refrained from using force to open the airport or quell disturbances for fear of being dragged into the sectarian conflict.

The military called for calm and said the problems should be resolved by dialogue.

Though the latest clashes are rooted in politics, they quickly took on a sectarian tone. In Beirut, many residents had to navigate a city newly divided up by roadblocks and army checkpoints, a grim reminder of the 1975-1990 civil war that left lasting scars.

Most Sunnis support the Western-backed government of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora. Most Shiites generally support the opposition led by Hezbollah, a group the U.S. has labeled a terrorist organization and which has close ties to Syria and Iran.

The long-simmering political crisis first exploded into violence Wednesday when Hezbollah supporters blocked roads in Beirut to enforce a strike called by labor unions. But it quickly escalated into street confrontations.

On Thursday, the violence spread outside Beirut. Sunnis and Shiites exchanged gunfire in the Bekaa Valley village of Saadnayel. Four people were injured, said security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with military regulations.

The area is on a major crossroads linking the Shiite areas of Baalbek, a Hezbollah stronghold, with central Lebanon and Beirut.

[closethippy1]

By "anti" or "pro" US I mean STRATEGY.

[closethippy1]

I think what gets people so confused about what''s going on in the Middle East is their inability to tell who''s who.
Look, this is not about Sunni against Shiite or Muslims agains Christians.
Simply put this is about those who are pro US and those that are anti US.
So in Iraq, for example, you have Shiites who are pro US like the people running the government and then you have Shiites who are anti US like Sadr and his movement.
In Lebanon the Sunnis are mostly pro US despite the fact that Osama Bin Laden and his entire Al Qaeda organization are anti US Sunnis.
Get it?
In Palestine where the vast majority are Sunnis you have the pro US Sunni Palestinians like Abbas and his people and the anti US Sunnis like Hamas.
Either way all these anti and pro US forces really don''t care who you are as long as you are anti or pro US.
The only exception in all of this is Al Qaeda who even hates Shiites who are anti US just because they''re Shiites.
To Al Qaeda all that matters is their interpretation of religion and everyone else can go f'' themselves.
But for the rest of the Middle East it is a question of doing what they''re told to do by the US, or stand their ground and reject the US strategy in the Middle East.
A strategy too close to Israel''s aims to recreate ancient Israel regardless of the consequences, an dregardless of how irrational it is.
I myself am a Palestinian Christian who sides with the anti US forces with the exception of Al Qaeda.

[trishab4]

The reality is that this is NOT a "War on Terror" but rather a "War of Terror'''' that this administration is engaged in, with, according to John "W" Mccain, as our primary objective. The present misguided effort includes terrorizing our own citizens by fear mongering at the most vital politically advantageous moments. Bush has taken away many of my rights, much of my retirement, and a couple of my nephews to fight a war to make his financial backers wealthy.
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Posted by excoachken at 06:15 PM : May 08, 2008

-Yep. I like this! It needs to be repeated many times and everyday for people to now the truth about the actual gangstering republicans and future ones if at all. Make sure America is reminded this daily.

[excoachken]

O.K. notblue, I get it. According to your sources, a few years ago, "12 million Iraqi''s voted for a democracy (sort of like voting for apple pie and motherhood). And right now, 70% of Iraqis want the U.S. to pull all of it''s forces out. And the reason we should stay, again, according to you, is that there is a "War on Terror." How do you expect to win a war against an idea and how will you be able to tell me when you win it? The reality is that this is NOT a "War on Terror" but rather a "War of Terror'' that this administration is engaged in, with, according to John "W" Mccain, as our primary objective. The present misguided effort includes terrorizing our own citizens by fear mongering at the most vital politically advantageous moments. Bush has taken away many of my rights, much of my retirement, and a couple of my nephews to fight a war to make his financial backers wealthy. The only question yet to be answered is why any average Joe like you, with a brain would support this folly unless they had a hidden agenda (perhaps as a political plant)?

[j-whitman]

JERSupporter,,,, I''m curious, why won''t you tell me what JER means in your screen name ??

[j-whitman]

mbcsmith,,, If you had a brain, you would have a right brain - left brain conflict --

--- It''s you folks who are more like Nazi''s.... From the takeover & shut down of the Congress-Reichstag to torture & invading countries on the presumed threat of terrorism & the hatered of the liberal way of thinking.

[notblue]

Bluebastard, who are those democratically elected sunni''s fighting? You forgot to mention it''s a known terrorist organization who goes by the name of hezbollah.

[notblue]

excoachken, 12 million Iraqis voted for democracy, a greater percentage that voted in the U.S. According to your logic we should abandon the Iraqis and let Al Qaeda duke it out with Iranian backed Shiite extremists, that is your supposed "civil war". THe reality is it''s two rival extremist factions that want to control a majority that want democracy not the bad guys version of theocracy. Get it?

[bluestardad]

BUSH HAS BEEN SENDING MONEY AND WEAPONS TO THE SUNNIS OF LEBANON!

IS BIN LADEN A SUNNI?

OOOOPPPPHHHSSS!

START WAR CRIMES TRIALS NOW!

AMERICA STAND UP OR SHUT UP...

[notblue]

excoachken, first of all Sunni''s were the bathists who are the minority but they are the group Al Qaeda backed. The Shiites are the democratically elected majority who''s radical faction is ruled by Al Sadre, a puppet extremist supported by Irans radical regime. Iran and Al Sadre do not want DEMOCRACY of any form in the middle east as democracy would make radical theocracies irrelevant. Ithad always been amazing to me to here you people ignore the reality of the war on terror and to listen to you people cherry pick specific countries to fight the enemy all out of politcs, not reality. The enemy has no specific allegiance to any country, why it''s so hard for you to comprehend that is a mystery.

[mbcsmith]

I vote for all of us, starting this week, to ignore McVet. All this laughing, jeering, Nazi-saluting troll does is flame and toss verbal bombs on these forums, looking to get a reaction. If he was ignored, he''''d get depressed and some day might go away and find something better to do with his sad life, like drink. Ignore him!


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Posted by michaelt302 at 04:16 PM : May 08, 2008


I''m in. BOYCOTT THE NAZI!

[excoachken]

So, notblue thinks this is not a civil war, but one of ideology. So, just who made up the main portions of the country of Iraq before we invaded. Lets see, can you say....... Sunni and ******. And who is fighting at the present time....Sunni and ******. It is an ideological war---- much like the battle in our own country in 1861 of the ideology of claiming that some people were property. Exactly what is the ideological arguement, from your perspective, between the Sunni and the ******? You lumped me and McVet together, and I think that is fair, since I too, served our country during a time of war forty years ago. By the way, sice you have questioned our patriotism, where were you when duty called? But, at least you are consistent with war monger John "W" McCain, in that he can''rt tell the difference between Sunni and ****** either, that is unless Joe Lieberman is whispering in his ear. Oh Oh, I just had another "Weekend at Bernies" flashback.

[husein_pasha]

Fortunatelly, we don`t have shiites

[notblue]

McVEt, no sense responding to a one demensional mind, it is futile.

Excoachken, it is not a cilil war we are inthe middle of it is a war of ideology. Secondly, you people seem to lack the ability to comprehend that radical Islamic enemy we fight shows allegiance to NO SPECIFIC country and where we choose to fight them I will leave to the military. Besides what differance does it make to you, you wouldn''t justify fighting under any circumstances anyway. In fact your daily message is one of blame for America nad support for the enemy eanyway. Why is it not apparent to trolls like McVet and people like you that your message mirrors almost word for word Al Zawhri''s. the leader of Al Qaeda. Look up any one of his rescent speaches and ask yourself WHo he sounds like.

[jersupporter]

Oh Vote for McCain and you will see an endless mindless War after War. That''''s all the guy knows... born military from a Military Family, raised Military on a Military Base... War to John McCain is as normal as breathing. Sieg Heil Bush Posted by MCVet
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You are truly a sick person who needs help. Your delusional Nazi periods are uncontrollable and everyone on this board laughs at you. What little mind would continually play the Nazi card in all subjects. Continue your antics Wheelie.

[racam_us]

All we have to do is airdrop Condelleza Rice and she can end this thing immediately. She said there would be peace there before the end of the year.

[mcvet]

Just another day of Arab cannibalism...shiites killing sunnis, sunnis killing shiites...

And this little insurrection brought to you the the party of god (lose transalation of hezbollah) the same party that gave us last year''''s or the year before war with Israel...

gosh the GOP must be so jealous of Hezbollah''''s ability to go to war at will!


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Posted by ozilot at 02:44 PM : May 08, 2008
+ report abuse

Oh Vote for McCain and you will see an endless mindless War after War. That''s all the guy knows... born military from a Military Family, raised Military on a Military Base... War to John McCain is as normal as breathing. Sieg Heil Bush

[mcvet]

To not blue: Can you tell me why we are still in the middle of an endless Civil War, after we have found out that it was Bush''''s lies (about WMDs and Iraq involvement in 9/11) that had us invade this country, in the first place?


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Posted by excoachken at 02:42 PM : May 08, 2008
+ report abuse

Well you see HE doesn''t count those LIES... see one of the people who contributed to the NON PROFIT Organization that compiled the list was a .... (gasp) "Liberal".. thus the entire list is to be ignored... ROFLMAO THEN he has the NERVE to say he''s not a fascist... ROFLMAO SIEG HEIL BUSH

[mcvet]

singingrick, tell us all why these savagesd are killing each other now? Can you do ti without bashing America or Bush? Doubt it!


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Posted by notblue at 02:29 PM : May 08, 2008
+ report abuse

What is it with you Nazi''s... do YOU live on ANOTHER planet??? This Religious War, that you Freakvanglist want to involve us in has been going on now for nearly 2,000 years... this isn''t NEWS... It''s just that you and your Fuhrer were the first to INVOLVE us in it... How about we go after those who attacked us and simply say, anyone of you that wants to do what Bin Laden did, expect the same. Worked with the KLAN!! We have a SMALL Army of people out here who have spent a LIFE TIME fighting Religious Extremist and I''m here to tell you Al Queda has NOTHING on a fired up bunch of Klan with LYNCHING on their minds. Theose are the people who should be leading us in this fight... not part of the problem. Sieg Heil Bush

[excoachken]

To not blue: Can you tell me why we are still in the middle of an endless Civil War, after we have found out that it was Bush''s lies (about WMDs and Iraq involvement in 9/11) that had us invade this country, in the first place?