Lebanon army 'will intervene'
2008-05-13 07:23
Beirut - Lebanon's army said it will use
force from Tuesday to stop fighting in the country between pro-
and anti-government forces that has recalled the 1975-90 civil
war.
"Army units will halt violations... in accordance with the
law, even if that leads to the use of force," a military
statement said on Monday. The order would be implemented from 06:00 (03:00 GMT) on Tuesday.
In the northern city of Tripoli, pro-government Sunni Muslim
gunmen and militiamen allied to Hezbollah guerrillas fought on
Monday in violence that has overturned the balance of power.
The upheaval began when Iran-backed Hezbollah and its allies
overran the strongholds of their Sunni political foes in Beirut
last week.
Six people were wounded in sporadic gun battles between
Sunni fighters in Tripoli's Bab Tebbaneh area and pro-Hezbollah
Alawites in neighbouring Jebel Mohsen, security sources said.
Hezbollah and its pro-Syrian allies have swept through
Beirut and hills to the east in a series of dramatic victories
since May 7, defeating loyalists of the US-backed government
before handing their conquests to the Lebanese army, which has
stayed out of the fighting so far.
At least 36 people were killed on Sunday in fighting between
Hezbollah and its pro-government Druze opponents east of Beirut,
bringing the overall toll to 81 dead and about 250 wounded.
Parliament postponed a vote on a new Lebanese president for
the 19th time, delaying the session to June 10 from Tuesday.
Negotiations by fire
Hezbollah's success has dealt a blow to the ruling Sunni-led
coalition and its main patron, the United States, which has cast
the country as a fragile democracy endangered by the ambitions
of Hezbollah and its Iranian and Syrian backers.
US President George W Bush said he will discuss Lebanon
and Iran during a Middle East visit this week.
"A lot of my trip is to get people to focus not only on
Lebanon, (to) remember Lebanon, but also remember that Iran
caused a lot of the problems around the Middle East," he told
the BBC Arabic television.
Bush is due to meet Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora in
Egypt on Sunday.
The US destroyer Cole passed through the Suez Canal to the
eastern Mediterranean on Sunday. The ship deployed off Lebanon
in February as a show of support to Siniora's government.
Hezbollah and its allies fought the 2005 parliamentary poll
in an electoral alliance with the ruling coalition parties,
although their agreement later broke down in acrimony.
A precarious calm prevailed in Beirut, where politicians
prepared to meet Arab League mediators.
"What has been happening is negotiations by fire," a
political source said. "Now everyone is waiting for the Arab
committee to come for the political negotiations to start."
Britain and Germany issued statements backing the Arab
League mediation and endorsing Siniora's government.
Turmoil has paralysed state institutions
So far such Western and Saudi support has done nothing to
deter Hezbollah from exposing the military weakness of its foes,
such as Sunni leader Saad al-Hariri and Druze chief Walid
Jumblatt, whose mountain fiefdom was attacked on Sunday.
One source said 14 Hezbollah fighters were among the dead in
those battles. Hezbollah-led forces overran several posts held
by Jumblatt's gunmen in the Aley district east of Beirut before
the Druze leader agreed to hand them over to the army.
While Hariri, Jumblatt and their Christian allies have
retracted the moves that sparked Hezbollah's ferocious reaction
- outlawing its communications network and sacking the airport
security chief - they have yet to concede political ground.
For 18 months, the government has resisted opposition
demands for veto rights in cabinet, although Hezbollah has now
shown it has the military muscle to veto decisions it dislikes.
The political turmoil has paralysed state institutions and
left Lebanon without a president since November.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the real goal
must be "to get a president elected in Lebanon. There is, of
course, a consensus candidate. All of those who are interfering
with his election should step aside and let it take place".
Lebanese officials said they expected a Qatari-led Arab
mission, formed at an emergency meeting of Arab foreign
ministers in Cairo on Sunday, to arrive in Beirut on Wednesday.
The Arab mediators will try to quell the violence and tackle
the political crisis by securing the election of army commander
General Michel Suleiman as president, the officials said.
Both sides had agreed on Suleiman as president but could not
strike a deal over a new government and a law for next year's
parliamentary election. Hezbollah's grab for strategic locations
has increased pressure on the government to accept its terms.
Hezbollah reiterated its demand that the government cancel
the two measures and attend a dialogue. It welcomed the Arab
mediation.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned on Monday those
behind the upsurge of violence and called on all parties to
resume talks to find a way out of the crisis.