Lebanon weary of unrest after deadly shootout
Tension gripped Lebanon as a suburb of its capital erupted in gunfire Thursday, a day after clashes over an overturned truck left two people dead outside the city.
Gunshots into the air rang out during a funeral for a member of Hezbollah, an Iran-backed, Islamist militant group and major political party that is under sanctions imposed by the United States. The member, Ahmed Qassas, was killed Wednesday after a truck carrying large, unmarked wooden boxes tipped over as it rounded a curve, outside the capital.
The truck belonged to Hezbollah, the group said. The Lebanese army, to which the United States is a key donor, said in a statement that the truck had been carrying ammunition, which troops later collected and moved to a “military center.” The statement did not specify who moved the munitions or where they wound up.
The army said a “quarrel” had broken out between those escorting the trucks and residents of the area. A witness at the scene, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of concerns over safety, said that residents ran to the truck after it tipped in an attempt to help but were met with men who seemed panicked and ordered everyone to leave, saying the truck was carrying a Hezbollah load. The incident sparked friction in the anti-Hezbollah, Christian-majority area.
Videos shared on social media in the wake of the incident, which have not been independently verified, appeared to show snippets of the altercation. In one, men crowd the vehicle, yelling and throwing rocks toward the truck. Another shows two men shooting at an unidentified position.
Another video showed an exchange of fire across from a church: Two men shoot at a third in an alleyway; a fourth, seemingly struck, crumples and falls. Local media identified him as Fadi Bejjani, a resident of the area who later died of his wounds. The army was deployed to close off the area, and got in altercations with local journalists to prevent them from approaching. Hezbollah later announced the death of one of its members, Qassas.
During his funeral Thursday, during which his coffin was carried through the streets, draped in a Hezbollah flag, gunshots into the air rang throughout Beirut suburbs. While gunshot displays are somewhat typical, the sheer amount of shooting during an already tense time heightened local fears of civil strife — especially as videos spread of men in balaclavas appearing to shoot toward a Christian neighborhood.
Amid the chaos, a car transporting Maurice Sleem, Lebanon’s defense minister, was struck, probably by a stray bullet, sparking initial fears of an assassination attempt.
Anti-Hezbollah parties were quick to condemn the incident and the confusion that unfolded in its wake. Adding to their ire was a statement Wednesday by the Lebanese Forces party, a major opponent of Hezbollah, alleging that an official found dead days earlier had been ambushed and assassinated.
The statement said CCTV surveillance camera footage of the crime scene showed at least two cars containing at least half a dozen people obstructing the path of party official Elias Hasrouni and kidnapping him. The party said it had handed the evidence to security forces, including army intelligence, and called on them to “reveal the identity of the perpetrators as soon as can be.”
“We are not for coexistence with an armed militia in Lebanon,” Samy Gemayel, a member of parliament and leader of the Kataeb party, said in a statement.
He said the country had reached a point of “no return.”
Source: msn
