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New Fighting Erupts in Lebanon, Arab States Call for Ceasefire

By Edward Yeranian
Beirut
11 May 2008

New clashes have broken out in Lebanon between Shi'ite gunmen and pro-government fighters in the mountains just east of Beirut, while Arab leaders call for a ceasefire. Edward Yeranian reports for VOA from Beirut that intense combat overnight left several dozen casualties.

Street-fighting engulfed the northern Lebanese port city of Tripoli, where supporters of parliament leader Sa'ad Hariri battled militiamen loyal to Syria and Hezbollah.

Al-Arabiya TV reported that more than a dozen militiamen were killed and that damage was widespread in the populous sunni-moslem neighborhood of Bab Tebbane, which supports the government, and the rival Alawite neighborhood of Bal Mohsen, loyal to Syria. Syria is governed by the influential Alawite sect.

Lebanese Army tanks moved in to separate both sides by early morning, and sporadic clashes appeared to die down.

Meanwhile, in Beirut, calm prevailed across most of the city as rival militias buried their dead and families stocked up on provisions in case fighting resumed.

Embattled pro-Western Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, who had asked Hezbollah and its allies to remove their fighters from the streets of Beirut, after what he termed a "coup against the government," told reporters that Hezbollah had not completely complied.

He says there was a misunderstanding in the original decision by the government (which sparked the fighting with Hezbollah) ... but some roads remain closed and armed fighters remain in the streets.

The Lebanese Army command and pro-government leader Walid Jumblatt confirmed, Saturday, that the government was backing down and rescinding its order to sack the pro-Hezbollah security chief of Beirut Airport and to dismantle Hezbollah's private communications network.

Pro-Syrian former Lebanese Prime Minister Rachid Karameh, who resigned after Damascus withdrew its army from Lebanon in 2005, defended Hezbollah, and said the provocative government decisions had been a "big mistake."

If wisdom had prevailed, instead of political maneuvering, he says, the government would never have issued the two provocative decrees that put Hezbollah's back against the wall, leaving it no choice but to surrender or fight.