Clashes in Beirut after army kills members of anti-Assad group
Fighting ensues after Lebanese soldiers shoot Sunni cleric and another member of March 14 political alliance
Reuters
guardian.co.uk
Sunni Muslims burn tyres in protest after the killing of the anti-Assad cleric Sheikh Ahmed Abdul Wahid in northern Lebanon. Photograph: Reuters
Residents of a Beirut suburb fired heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades at each other on Sunday, the latest violence to raise fears that Syria's turmoil was spilling over the border into its neighbour.
Earlier, army soldiers in northern Lebanon shot dead two members of a political party in an alliance against Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
Many Sunni Muslims in Lebanon's north sympathise with Syria's Sunni-led uprising against Assad and say the Lebanese army is taking orders from Damascus.
Syrian troops were garrisoned in Lebanon, a tiny country still recovering from its own 15-year civil war, until 2005. "Nine people were wounded in the Tariq al-Jadede district in southern Beirut," a security source said.
A witness said that two Sunni groups were fighting each other, but it was not clear how the violence had started.
Earlier on Sunday, Sheikh Ahmed Abdul Wahid, a Sunni cleric, and Muhammed Hussein Miraib, both members of the Lebanon-based March 14 political alliance, were shot in their car as they sped through an army checkpoint without stopping.
Residents of the northern region of Akkar blocked off roads and burned tyres to protest against the deaths. The main coastal highway and roads in the capital Beirut were also blocked by enraged residents.
The army released a statement confirming the deaths but not giving any information on who was responsible or what led up to the shootings.
"The leadership of the army expresses deep regret for the death of the two victims ... it will immediately form an investigative committee comprised of senior officers and military police under the relevant court," the statement said.
Prime minister Najib Mikati tried to quell the growing tensions.
"The government is determined to continue to shoulder its national responsibilities amid this critical period in Lebanon and the region, and it will take all measures necessary to preserve civil peace," he said in a statement.Some troops pulled out of Akkar to prevent tensions from escalating, security sources and residents said.
Khaled Daher, a member of parliament from the Future Movement party, part of the March 14 alliance, said the two men had been assassinated.
"If shots were fired at the tyres, we would say there was a mistake. But we consider this a direct targeting from the army. Frankly, we do not want to see the army here because it works at the service of the Syrian regime," he said.
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
21052012
___________
CSVN là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
No comments:
Post a Comment