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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Soldiers deployed in tense Lebanese capital |
| 2011-01-19 |
| [Pak Daily Times] Soldiers deployed in Beirut on Tuesday as tension soared following indictments issued in the murder of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri and as diplomatic efforts mounted to defuse the crisis. A security official said dozens of ungunnies gathered in several neighbourhoods of west Beirut early on Tuesday, scaring residents and prompting panicked parents to pull their children from classes. "The gatherings may signal preparations to mobilise in relation to the indictments handed down," a security official told AFP on condition of anonymity. The men had gathered in areas "where (Shia parties) Hezbullies and Amal have a presence" and dispersed after about an hour, he said. A heavy army presence could be seen by midday in the neighbourhoods where the gatherings took place. "We have taken measures to reassure citizens," an army front man told AFP. Fears of sectarian violence have mounted in Leb after the prosecutor of the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Leb (STL) submitted an indictment on Monday that will reportedly implicate the powerful Shia Hezbullies in the 2005 murder of Hariri. Court registrar Herman von Hebel said the case may go to trial by September regardless of whether any arrests had been made. A long-running dispute between rival parties in Leb over the STL last week prompted Hezbullies and its allies to walk out of the unity government of Western-backed Saad Hariri, son of the slain leader. On Tuesday, Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jaber al-Thani met with President Michel Suleiman on the crisis. They did not make any statements after the meeting. The two were also meeting parliament speaker Nabih KnobbyBerri ... the Hizbullah sock puppet ... and caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri. Both leaders arrived from Damascus where they had held talks with Syrian officials on the crisis. Leb was also the centre of talks in Ankara late Monday between Davutoglu and his Iranian counterpart, Ali Akbar Salehi. Diplomatic efforts are focused on reviving a failed Syrian-Saudi bid to find a compromise on the STL between Hariri's camp and the rival Hezbullies. Leb's army commander Jean Kahwaji, who has raised concerns of a security breakdown, was also in Syria on Tuesday for talks with President Bashar "Pencilneck" al-Assad ... hereditary dictator of Syria ... . Hezbullies chief Hassan Nasrallah, who has accused the STL of being under US-Israeli control, has repeatedly warned that his party would not sit idle should any of its members be implicated in the Hariri murder. Berri, a staunch ally of Hezbullies, issued a veiled warning on Tuesday saying that a new phase had begun after the submission of Bellemare's indictments. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 I heard a blip about Lebanon on the radio last week, other than that nothing from the professional journo-entertainers. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2011-01-19 11:56 |
| #1 Nasrallah was supposed to speak yesterday. Media reports from Lebanon are disjointed at best. How is flash point number 1 rank below the rest of the crap in the media? So, Naz comes out of the bunker and makes a speech and demonstrations ara abound - same time as the Tunesian revolt, the Jordanian protests, the strange silence in Cairo, the nervous Lybian dictator, the strange ditching of subject Nigeria. Need more focus on Lebanon right now. Very, very, important. |
| Posted by: newc 2011-01-19 02:19 |