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Hezbollah wages war on Druze in Mount Lebanon
Heavy fighting broke out Sunday between supporters of Lebanon's Western-backed government and Hezbollah-lead opposition militiamen in Druze strongholds overlooking Beirut.Machinegun fire and heavy artillery echoed throughout the village of Aitat, 20 kilometers southeast of Beirut. Mortars were fired between opposition and government supporters across Aley hills. Sunday's fighting between pro-government supporters of Druze leader Walid Jumblatt and Shiite gunmen started in Aitat around 2 p.m., involving exchanges of rocket and machine gunfire. There also were sporadic gunbattles in the eastern Bekaa Valley. Hezbollah vacated the families of its supporters from Aramoun, Bshamoun and all suburbs of Beirut near Shouaifat, then proceeded to bombard the densely populated towns with heavy mortar fire. Hezbollah have continued to prevent the free press from covering the conflict. Today the militia prevented the Al-Arabiya crew from filming al-Jabal clashes in Aley. Hezbollah has continued to funnel fiction through their Al Manar mouthpiece. Progressive Socialist Party members have been handing the Lebanese Army control of its security centers. Rather than securing the locations, the Army has instigated more violence by in turn handing over the locations to Hezbollah militiamen, further enraging the situation. Opposition Druze leader Talal Arslan echoed Jumblatt's call for a ceasefire, then proceeded to appease Hezbollah, "All the Druze are keen on protecting the resistance... this mountain will never stab the resistance in the back." "I agreed to negotiate on these matters as I and Jumblatt agreed with my colleagues in Hezbollah to hand all areas in al-Jabal to the army, in addition to whatever arms are found in storage and security centers," Arslan announced in a press conference. A citizen from Deir Koubel, a Druze village, told LBC in an interview: "We have been calling the army to come to our village since yesterday, but they have ignored our call. Hizbullah is still bombarding us. Our village is burning, we don't have weapons or armed men here. We will not accept any other force in our village. Only the army. What are they (the army) waiting for?" As Hezbollah continues to flex its muscles and intimidate the Lebanese people, many wonder whether the next stop on the coup d'etat tour of the country is in Christian land. Posted by: Fred 2008-05-12 |
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