Lebanese army restores calm in Tripoli, arrests wanted gunman

TRIPOLI: The Lebanese Army shot and wounded a wanted suspect during a shootout in Tripoli’s Bab al-Tebbaneh neighborhood on Sunday, a security source told The Daily Star.

The source added that the gunman, Mohammad Ahmad al-Arour, had been wanted for opening fire on troops Saturday and was now in their custody.

The source added that the situation had remained calm in the northern city of Tripoli throughout the day until the arrest was made.

“Troops pursued Arour and arrested him after a 30-minute clash that left two soldiers wounded, one of them seriously,” the source added.

Meanwhile, the Lebanese Army restored calm in the northern port city after nine people were killed in deadly clashes, which sent 2,000 families fleeing to safer areas, a security official said on Sunday.

“Calm has been restored in Tripoli and no gunfire or firing of rockets has been recorded since 5 p.m. on Saturday,” the official told AFP, asking not to be identified.

All through Friday night, militants from the rival Sunni Muslim and Alawite communities battled with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons in the latest violence to rock the Mediterranean city.

Bab al-Tebbaneh is a stronghold of the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority while the inhabitants of Jabal Mohsen mainly support the parliamentary opposition led by Hizbullah.

Tensions between the two communities date back to Lebanon’s 1975-1990 Civil War.

Around 60 army vehicles fanned out across Tripoli over the weekend, forcing the shooting to die down.

An army statement said its troops “will use force if necessary to protect civilians and their property and bar armed presence” on the streets.

“Our forces are conducting patrols and have established checkpoints to check the identities of all persons, so as to prevent any theft or infringement on private and public property,” the army statement added.

A 10-year-old boy and two women were among those killed on Friday while 50 other people were wounded after two attempts to secure a cease-fire went unheeded.

On Friday night, Lebanon’s newly-appointed Interior Minister Ziyad Baroud headed an

emergency meeting that joined officers of the Internal Security Forces’ (ISF) North Regional Command and ISF head Major General Ashraf Rifi.

“Tripoli is very dear to our hearts, and today we stand by the security forces, who are making every effort and sacrifice possible to be at the side of the people,” Baroud said after the meeting.

The interior minister stressed that security forces were working in coordination with the army command and under the direction of President Michel Sleiman.

Baroud said “firmness and decisiveness” were the tactics necessary to solve the sporadic violence in Tripoli.

“I think that this is what the people await, and we stand by them throughout the chaos, chaos that is totally unacceptable by all citizens,” he added.

Baroud refused to go into details on the military’s tactics “in order to preserve the security plan that was drafted and is being developed.”

“Over the next few hours, we will work to reduce damage and human and material losses,” he said.

In remarks published by the As-Safir daily on Saturday, Democratic Gathering leader MP Walid Jumblatt urged Tripoli’s feuding factions to halt acts of violence, saying factional violence “only serves foreign agendas.”

Jumblatt said the repercussions of such clashes would save no side, warning against the revival of extremist movements.

He said the Sunnis and Alawites “have a joint history of struggle in defense of Lebanon and its Arab belonging.”

Lebanon has been hit by sporadic outbreaks of violence despite a power-sharing deal between rival political factions in May which led to the election of Sleiman as president and the creation of a unity Cabinet.

The latest unrest came after the new Cabinet hit snags in deliberations aimed at drawing up a policy agenda ahead of a parliamentary vote of confidence which would enable the government to be officially installed.

“This is a political conflict between the Lebanese. Rather than go to the constitutional institutions they are reverting to the use of weapons,” an army official told AFP.

Many shops remained shuttered for the third consecutive day in Tripoli on Sunday and the streets were largely deserted as families who had fled the battle zones Friday waited for a return to calm before going home, an AFP correspondent said. – The Daily Star, with AFP

Jumblatt says surrender of Hizbullah’s weapons to army is ‘inevitable’

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Jumblatt says surrender of Hizbullah’s weapons to army is ‘inevitable’

Psp leader argues state of ‘open war’ already exists in Lebanon

By Maher Zeineddine and Nafez Qawas Daily Star correspondent

BEIRUT: Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) leader MP Walid Jumblatt said on Monday that reaching a comprehensive national defense strategy where arms are to be put under the Lebanese Armed Forces’ control is “inevitable.” In his weekly remarks to PSP’s mouthpiece, Al-Anbaa, to be published on Tuesday, Jumblatt said “there is not any country in the world that accepts to have undisciplined armed factions that open wars with enemies whenever they want and however they want, as if they are the only ones to run the country’s affairs.” Jumblatt’s remarks came in reference to Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s warning that if the recent assassination if top resistance commander Imad Mughniyeh meant Israel wanted “open war,” his group was ready. “We have liberated our land, defeated the Israelis more than once and fulfilled our national duty as good as it can be,” Jumblatt said. “We do not want to get involved in international terrorist or non-terrorist wars that could drag us to never ending conflicts on our territory.” “An open war can be averted through a defense strategy and through the handing over of the alive [Israeli soldiers] or the body parts to the legitimate authority in order to negotiate this file with the United Nations,” he added. Jumblatt said the Lebanese cannot accept that a certain party “avenges its martyrs in an open war that is to be launched from their country.” “Aren’t the prices which the Lebanese have paid so far to settle the bills of regional regimes enough?” he asked. According to Jumblatt, open wars already exist inside Lebanon through “emptying” institutions, paralyzing political life and occupying downtown Beirut, a reference to the sit-in held there by the opposition there since December 2006. Following a meeting with Prime Minister Fouad Siniora on Sunday, Jumblatt criticized the “change” in Nasrallah’s latest two speeches. “There is something remarkable between Nasrallah’s speech delivered during Mughniyeh’s funeral and the latest one,” he said. “We were in an open war and now Israel is declaring an open war.” Nasrallah delivered a speech by video link to thousands of supporters taking part in a ceremony to commemorate fallen Hizbullah members on Friday. He said the “resistance will not stand silent” if Israel launches a war against Lebanon. “We will kill you in the fields, we will kill you in the cities, we will fight you like you have never seen before,” said Nasrallah. “Israel will be left without an army, and without an army Israel cannot exist.” Earlier this month, Nasrallah delivered another tough speech during the funeral for Mughniyeh – who was killed by a car bomb in Damascus . “There is a change between one week and another, is this change tactical? Is there anything inside their organization?” Jumbatt asked. “It is true that an open war exists but when we strengthen the state we eliminate Israel’s pretext of an open war,” he added.