BEIRUT, 12 May 2008 — The army deployed across much of Lebanon yesterday after Hezbollah ceded control of west Beirut but clashes raged on in the north and in the Druze mountains. Heavy machine-gun fire and loud explosions echoed through a number of villages in the district of Aley as Druze majority leader Walid Jumblatt urged his rival Talal Arslan, who is allied with the Hezbollah-led opposition, to place the area under army control.
“Civil peace and halting the destruction are paramount,” Jumblatt told Lebanese television. He also asked his supporters to lay down their weapons. Arslan also called on opposition fighters to halt the fighting. Shortly after the appeals the army began deploying in the area.
A security official said that the casualty toll from five days of fighting that has raised the specter of renewed civil war now totals 42 dead and 164 wounded.
Earlier yesterday the army moved into the main northern city of Tripoli where fierce sectarian clashes left one woman dead and at least five people wounded overnight. Calm returned to the capital Beirut after four days of violence between Hezbollah and pro-government groups.
However, some barricades put up by Hezbollah remained in place and the road to Beirut airport was shut for a fifth straight day, in the face of a continuing civil disobedience campaign by the opposition.
The takeover of west Beirut was a dramatic display of Hezbollah’s military might and marked a turning point in the opposition group’s long-running power struggle with the government.
The Future Movement of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora accused its opponents of launching a “jihad” (Muslim holy war) on the Lebanese capital and of trying to “turn Beirut into another Baghdad,” in an allusion to the sectarian killing that has gripped the Iraqi capital.
Many Lebanese, including Cabinet ministers, observed a minute of silence yesterday for the victims of the violence.
Syrian official daily Al-Baath said yesterday that Hezbollah had foiled a US-planned coup to seize control of Lebanon. “The Americans launched a pre-emptive strike against opposition nationalist forces, starting with the (Hezbollah) resistance, and attempted a Washington-planned coup but were taken aback by the opposition, which restored order in Lebanon,” it said.
The White House welcomed the lessening of violence in Beirut but warned that “our concerns regarding Hezbollah are unchanged.”
Amid the tensions, foreigners continued to leave Lebanon by road to Syria, although the eastern border crossing of Masnaa was still blocked.
Meanwhile, the Saudi Shoura Council yesterday expressed its deep concern over “the painful events” in Lebanon and urged Lebanese factions to give top priority to their country’s interests. The 150-member consultative body urged the groups to revise their calculations and learn the fact that infighting would only bring losses to the country and its people.
The Shoura called upon Lebanese groups to accept the Arab League proposal to end their country’s political crisis and not to give foreign forces a chance to meddle in their country’s affairs.
