Lebanese P.M.: Hezbollah Staged A Coup

12 Gunmen Dead In Clash; Army Appears To Compromise On Some Demands Of Shiite Militants

(AP)  Lebanese security and hospital officials say that at least 12 gunmen are dead and 20 wounded in a gun battle between pro- and anti-government groups in a remote region of northern Lebanon.

Saturday's gun battle occurred in the town of Halba in Akkar, a remote Sunni region in northernmost Lebanon when fighters loyal to Sunni leader Saad Hariri and the government clashed with members of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, a secular pro-Syrian group allied with the Shiite Hezbollah.

The pro-government fighters stormed the office of the SSNP and set it ablaze after the gun battle.

The number raises to 37 the death toll since Shiite-Sunni sectarian violence erupted in Beirut on Wednesday and spread to other regions - the worst sectarian bloodshed since the 1978-90 civil war that killed 150,000 people and left Beirut divided along religious lines.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah TV says that Hezbollah-led opposition forces will withdraw all their gunmen from Beirut in compliance with an army request.

An opposition statement says the move comes after the army called on gunmen to get off the street and reopen the roads.

The Lebanese army command had 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.

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.

But the Hezbollah statement said that a "civil disobedience" campaign will continue until its demands are met.

"An Armed And Bloody Coup"

Earlier today, a Shiite Muslim shop owner opened fire on a funeral procession Saturday, killing two people and wounding six others in a Sunni neighborhood, police and witnesses said.

The attack came a day after Shiite Hezbollah gunmen seized most of the capital's Muslim sector.

Prime Minister Fuad Saniora accused Hezbollah of staging an "armed coup" against Lebanese democracy, and called on the army to restore law and order and remove gunmen from the streets.

In a nationally televised address, he 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.

In Beirut's western Muslim sector, most of the Hezbollah gunmen had pulled out of Sunni-dominated neighborhoods by Saturday morning, leaving just small bands of Shiite allies carrying assault rifles to patrol the streets.

Though most of Beirut was calmer Saturday, the shooting underlined the lawlessness that has engulfed the seaside city since Sunni-Shiite violence first erupted four days ago.

On Friday, Iranian-backed Hezbollah gunmen 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.

Though the capital was quiet overnight, violence 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.

[frantresa]

********** are human roaches. www.theoandavirus.com

[quetzalcrist]

The Israeli terrorists left nearly a million bomblets behind to kill farmers and children. ...

You are Correct, I remember reading about this
on BBC, in direct violation of the geneva convention and through the uproar of human rights groups, they used cluster bombs on civilian neighborhoods.
in some places the civilians were marking them with spray paint, so children going to school would not detonate them.

[prinzowhales]

yongamerica--Why don''t you give us an example of how I am a ''religious extremist''?

If you want to find the religious extremists, take a look at Franklin Graham...Pat Robertson...Hagee...and that rabble in Lynchburg, Virginia filthy with Moonie money and KCIA, CIA supported...Take a look at our good friends the Wahabbi-supporting Saud family...Take a look at the Kach, Likud and other right wing ''Kooks'' in Israel and New York and you will find a unity of purpose among them all...even down to the current mischief being carried out in Lebanon with the support of ''al Qaeda-Wahabbi-Sunni-connected elements tied to Saniora.

Hezb''allah is the organization that saved Lebanon from the Israelis twice--the Israelis were forced out in 2000, they were forced out the last time. They saved the Litani for Lebanon. The Israeli terrorists left nearly a million bomblets behind to kill farmers and children.

[titletrack]

START WAR CRIMES NOW!

AMERICA STAND UP OR SHUT UP!

Blue - tell me what you are doing? Please tell me you plan to Start War Crimes :)

[titletrack]

Those that perpetuate this war are those that use their religon for their own purpose: domination of countries through terror.
Syria and Iran are working well together towards that goal.

Posted by yongamerica

Exactly and Also religious extremists like Prinzo

[yongamerica]

Speak and write against the war and its expansion to all who will listen ... Those that perpetuate this war are those that use their religon for their own purpose: domination of countries through terror.
Syria and Iran are working well together towards that goal.

[yongamerica]

bluestardad you are so far off base. Try again with that rant.

[bluestardad]

SO LETS GET THIS STRAIGHT???

WE ARE FIGHTING THE SUNNIS IN IRAQ? OR WHO EVER THREATENS OUR OIL...

WE ARE FUNDING THE SUNNIS IN LEBANON TO DESTABLIZE THAT COUNTRY???

BUSH IS SENDING AID TO ISRAEL IN THE BILLIONS...

BUSH IS SENDING AID TO THE PALESTINIANS IN THE MILLIONS THRU ISRAELI BANKS???

16 OF THE 19 HIJACKERS WERE FROM SAUDI...

CHENEY AND HALIBURTON ARE TIGHT WITH THE SAUDIS...

RUMFELD BROKERED CHEMICAL WEAPONS TO SADDAM IN THE 80S...TO FIGHT IRAN

WE ATTACHED IRAQ TO GET RID OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS...

RICHARD PEARL A DUEL PASSPORT HOLDING ISRAELI AMERICAN NEOCON IS BROKERING AN OIL DEAL WITH THE KURDS...

TURKEY IS FIGHTING THE KURDS...

BILLIONS OF AMERICAN TAX DOLLARS ARE GOING TO THE MIDDLE EAST!

4000 PLUS AMERICANS HAVE GIVEN THEIR LIVES FIGHTING A CHANGING ENEMY WHO ONE DAY CHANGES FROM ONE SIDE TO THE NEXT...AND WHOS POLITICIANS ARE ON THE TAKE AS BAD AS AMERICAN POLITICIANS ARE?

MISS NO ACTIONABLE INTELLIGENCE CONDI RICE IS RUNNING THE STATE DEPARTMENT!

WHO IS RUNNING THIS MIDDLE EAST TRAIN?

START WAR CRIMES NOW!

AMERICA STAND UP OR SHUT UP!

[prinzowhales]

The premise of the sentence I quote from your post, is a lie. If you want to root about for "outrage" why don''''''''t you examine the Christian "outrage" over the fighting of the last century.. BLAH BLAH BLAH

Prinz - keep on subject your babbles and attempts to change the subject makes it apparent you revel in the Muslim Muslim violence.
--------------------
The point that you missed was that there doesn''t seem to be any outrage in either instance which leads one to suspect organized religion all the more.

What you miss is that Sunni and Shi''a clerics have called for an end to the violence...and call, as well, for the Americans--who are behind this--to leave the country. They have also called for the people to focus their fury on their real enemy--the Occupation.

The only people who benefit from the fighting between Shia and Sunni are the Americans and the Occupation-- the very people whose policies and dirty war promoted it.

[yongamerica]

The premise of the sentence I quote from your post, is a lie. If you want to root about for "outrage" why don''''t you examine the Christian "outrage" over the fighting of the last century.. BLAH BLAH BLAH

Prinz - keep on subject your babbles and attempts to change the subject makes it apparent you revel in the Muslim Muslim violence.

[titletrack]

Prinzowhales - If you want to be a religious head case...that is your business.

[titletrack]

These are the religious nuts...

"Crazy" in the face of this, is good...real good.


Posted by Prinzowhales

And you are one of them :)

[prinzowhales]

titletrack--25,000 preachers have been co-opted by Homeland Security to preach Romans 13 and obedience to the State in the event martial law is declared...they want the Church to be ''good wife to the State'' and convince deluded Americans to cooperate in their own undoing...to give up their guns, to obey the instructions of the Regime...to submit. These are the religious nuts...

"Crazy" in the face of this, is good...real good.

[titletrack]

Prinz - you should worry about your own country, and not worry about us Americans. Thanks

[titletrack]

Speak and write against the war and its expansion to all who will listen or read and vote for and support pro-peace candidates. Point out the corrupt nature of the Demopublican Regime and the Oligarchy for which it stands. The monsters who have hijacked this nation and turned it to murder and evil will die the death of a thousand cuts as more and more people join this war...this INFOWAR, as Alex Jones, terms it...exposing the regime at every turn...
Its complicity in the attack on America on 9-11... the lawlessness of Bush and Cheney...the war built and fought on lies...the corruption...the murders...the torture and the cost in widow''''s tears and flag draped coffins come home forever at Dover.

Posted by Prinzowhales

All this from a radical religious nut. You are one crazy dude :)

[prinzowhales]

titletrack--Speak and write against the war and its expansion to all who will listen or read and vote for and support pro-peace candidates. Point out the corrupt nature of the Demopublican Regime and the Oligarchy for which it stands. The monsters who have hijacked this nation and turned it to murder and evil will die the death of a thousand cuts as more and more people join this war...this INFOWAR, as Alex Jones, terms it...exposing the regime at every turn...
Its complicity in the attack on America on 9-11... the lawlessness of Bush and Cheney...the war built and fought on lies...the corruption...the murders...the torture and the cost in widow''s tears and flag draped coffins come home forever at Dover.

[titletrack]

Prinzowhales - talk, talk, talk....tell me what are you going to do about it? Your complaining isn''t getting you very far :)

[prinzowhales]

. . . .Since you are one who''''d prefer to kill rather than understand perhaps I''''m asking the wrong person why.

Posted by yongamerica at 03:46 PM : May 11, 2008
------------------
My "outrage" is that this was percipitated and is being encouraged by the Washington Regime and its allies...al Qaeda and the suicide bombings in Iraq did not start until our arrival. And even before they got under way, we worked, under Bremer, to create chaos and religious discord...inciting the mob to destroy government buildings and signs of national unity...even shooting security guards to facilitate the work of looters--save in the precious Oil Ministry, of course. The Army and police were dismissed and the torment of Iraq began in ernest. The way to end the discord is for the US, its contractors--the slinking mercenary murderers and rapists--its agents and it quislings to LEAVE IRAQ TO THE IRAQIS!!

The premise of the sentence I quote from your post, is a lie. If you want to root about for "outrage" why don''t you examine the Christian "outrage" over the fighting of the last century...the bloodbaths of World Wars I & II, for instance. Organized Religion has been and seems to be today nothing more than an opiate for the people as Marx, said and, as I say, the who.re of the State and/or Establishment and an enemy of all true religious feelings and expressions.

Your

[yongamerica]

Prinzowhales where is your outrage? Or do not care that Muslims are murdering Muslims; all in the name of Islam? Prinzowhales, where is the International Islamic protest over Muslim brother murdering Muslim families, children, women? Where is the International Islamic outrage that Muslim girls are being raped, tortured and murdered because they went to school? Where is the International Islamic outrage over terrorists that have bloodied and shamed their religon?
Since you are one who''d prefer to kill rather than understand perhaps I''m asking the wrong person why.

[titletrack]

Plenty of religious idiots here who do cause problems, anthrax mailings, most school shooters come from Christian families, abortion clinic bombers & other terrorists, even gangs & supremists wrap themself in the cross & flag.

Posted by j-whitman

Yeah so you hate jews...what''s new? What are you going to do about it?