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Shiite Militias Seize Beirut Neighborhoods |
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Written by The New York Times
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Heavily armed Hezbollah fighters seized control of large parts of western Beirut on Friday, patrolling the deserted streets in a raw show of force that underscored the Shiite militia’s refusal to back down in its latest confrontation with the American-backed government.
Hezbollah allies also forced a government-allied satellite television station off the air and burned the offices of its newspaper affiliate, as Sunni fighters loyal to the government largely melted away.
Those humiliating blows made clearer than ever the power of Hezbollah and its allies over the government majority, whose leaders were mostly holed up in their compounds, besieged by intermittent gunfire.
By Friday afternoon, a long column of Hezbollah fighters and paramilitaries was riding joyfully through west Beirut in trucks, cars and on scooters, shouting and firing their weapons into the air in a victory celebration.
Hezbollah fighters handed control of the areas they seized to the Lebanese Army in many cases, in an apparent effort to avoid being seen as conquerors.
The army, which was also out in force Friday, has carefully avoided all confrontations with both sides in an effort to preserve its reputation as the one neutral force in Lebanon’s bitter and complex political struggle.
Three days of street battles here have left at least 11 people dead and 20 wounded, after the government majority provoked a confrontation by challenging Hezbollah’s telecommunications network on Tuesday.
It was unclear what the developments would mean for Lebanon’s political future. For now, they seemed only to lead to stalemate and a deepening of Lebanon’s troubles. For 17 months, Lebanon has had a political crisis between the Hezbollah-led opposition supported by Iran and Syria and the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, who is backed by the West and Saudi Arabia. The standoff has left the country without a president since November.
The latest clashes erupted after Hezbollah’s leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, said the government had declared war by threatening to shut down the group’s private telephone network, which officials considered a violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty. On Friday, the Shiite militias began to open up roads that had been blocked since a general strike began on Tuesday, including allowing cars through to the airport, and seemed to be waiting for the government to reverse its decision on the telephone network.
After Mr. Nasrallah’s speech, Mr. Hariri proposed a deal to end the fighting and called the government’s decision on the telephone network a misunderstanding.
Mr. Hariri said the decision should be left up to the army command, effectively taking it out of the government’s hands. He also urged the immediate election of the army commander, Gen. Michel Suleiman, as president and the convening of a national dialogue among the rival factions.
Later on Thursday night, Al Manar television, which is run by Hezbollah, said the group had rejected Mr. Hariri’s proposal. The station cited a pro-Hezbollah official, who said the group and its allies would reject any ideas for ending the conflict that were not proposed by Mr. Nasrallah.
Hezbollah has previously rejected proposals for electing a president before there is an agreement on a new cabinet and a new election law.
“The government’s proposal did not offer anything new on how to solve the political crisis,” said Talal Atrissi, a political sociology professor at the Lebanese University. “So one of the scenarios would be to continue fighting until either the government publicly backs off or the opposition agrees to hold dialogue.”
Mr. Hariri, the parliamentary leader, also urged Hezbollah to lift what he called its siege of Beirut.
“My appeal to you and to myself as well, the appeal of all Lebanon, is to stop the slide toward civil war, to stop the language of arms and lawlessness,” Mr. Hariri said in a televised speech.
Mr. Nasrallah, speaking at a news conference via a video link, said the telephone network, which connects Hezbollah’s officials, military commanders and emplacements, was a vital part of the group’s military infrastructure.
“We have said before that we will cut the hands that will target the weapons of the resistance,” he said. “Today is the day to fulfill this promise.”
The government’s decision, he added, “is first of all a declaration of war and the launching of war by the government against the resistance and its weapons for the benefit of America and Israel.”
Minutes after Mr. Nasrallah’s speech, armed men in mixed Sunni-Shiite neighborhoods on the west side of Beirut engaged in heavy fighting using automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. The army raced in armored personal carriers from one neighborhood to another, with soldiers shooting in the air to try to stop the fighting.
By late Thursday masked gunmen were roaming the streets with walkie-talkies. Some were seen shooting out streetlights to keep rooftop snipers from directing their fire at targets.
Many residents along Corniche Mazraa, a major highway that has become a demarcation line between the factions, were seen leaving their houses for safer areas. Others lined up in supermarkets, stocking up on food supplies.
Several parts of the city were shut down, and roads were blocked by burning tires and garbage cans set on fire.
Fighting also broke out in the Bekaa Valley, to the east, where government and Hezbollah supporters blocked roads and exchanged gunfire.
Nada Bakri reported from Beirut, Lebanon. Graham Bowley reported from New York.
By ROBERT F. WORTH and NADA BAKRI
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