Hezbollah siezes key areas of Lebanon

The Guardian
May 12, 2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/12/lebanon

By Hugh Macleod and Rami Aysha
Beirut

Iranian-backed Hezbollah and its opposition allies yesterday escalated their armed take-over of key areas of Lebanon held by the Western-backed government, gaining control of the Druze heartlands of Mount Lebanon and clashing with pro-government Sunni fighters in the northern port city of Tripoli.

Pro-government Druze leader Waleed Jumblatt, who has controlled the mountain areas south-east of Beirut for generations, ordered his fighters to stand-down after fierce clashes with Hezbollah militants in which both sides kidnapped and executed. The area was turned over to opposition Druze leader Talal Arsalan, who asked the army to deploy.

The overturn of power in Mount Lebanon is another major blow to the government, whose key figures sit besieged in their homes by opposition gunmen, following Thursday night’s routing of Sunni fighters in west Beirut by Shia Hezbollah and Amal militants and allies in the Syrian Social National Party.

“Hezbollah and Iran won the battle of Beirut and I knew they would win,” Jumblatt told the Guardian in his besieged Beirut home. “The Iranians chose the moment America is weak in the Middle East. The balance of power has completely changed in Lebanon and now we wait to see what new rules Hezbollah, Syria and Iran will lay down.”

The worst violence since the ruinous 15-year civil war ended in 1990 was triggered by what Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said was a “declaration of war” by the government after it ordered the army to dismantle Hezbollah’s secure telephone network and accused the group of setting up spy cameras at Beirut airport.

At least 46 people have been killed and 128 wounded in four days of fighting which spread Saturday night to Tripoli where supporters of Sunni parliamentary leader Saad Hariri burned opposition offices, triggering running gun with Sunni Islamists allied to Hezbollah.

At least 7,000 residents fled the violence, which abated yesterday afternoon after a fragile cease-fire agreement and the deployment of the army, which throughout the conflict has remained neutral, ignoring government demands to force gunmen from the streets.

Arab foreign ministers, holding an emergency session in Cairo yesterday, appealed “for an immediate halt of bombings and shooting, and the withdrawal of gunmen” and condemned Hezbollah’s use of weapons inside the country, an option the militant group had previously vowed to forgo.

The Cairo meeting was snubbed by the foreign minister of Syria, which is a strategic partner of Hezbollah but who saw its influence in Lebanon wane dramatically after its forced troop withdrawal following the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Though strongly denying, Damascus was initially accused of involvement in Hariri’s killing by an ongoing UN inquiry, leading some government figures to suggest Syria may wish to use its resurgence of power in Lebanon against the threat of the court being established to try Hariri’s killers.

“The Syrians could now trade Lebanon with the Americans or for the international tribunal,” said Jumblatt. Hezbollah and Amal fighters largely withdrew from areas occupied in west Beirut after army promises Hezbollah’s communication network would not be dismantled.

The 18-month political crisis that has left the country without a parliament or president was sparked in the immediate aftermath of Hezbollah’s month-long war with Israel in July 2006 war when Prime Minister Fouad Siniora called a cabinet meeting to discuss Hezbollah’s weapons.

In response, Nasrallah accused Siniora of being a “traitor” and working for Washington and Tel Aviv. The government vowed Saturday to continue confronting Hezbollah over the status of its arms, despite warning from Nasrallah the issue is a red line.