Clashes fuel Lebanon fear of return to civil conflict
By Associated Press
Friday, January 26, 2007 - Updated: 01:30 AM EST
BEIRUT, Lebanon - It started with a lunchtime scuffle in a university cafeteria. Within minutes, angry Sunnis from nearby homes had moved in and their Shiite Hezbollah rivals were using walkie-talkies to call in reinforcements armed with clubs and stones.
Some eight hours and a deadly melee later, Beirut was under curfew for the first time in a decade.
The violence yesterday underlined what Lebanese have feared for months: that the confrontation between Hezbollah and Sunni backers of the U.S.-supported government could rage out of control.
At least three people were killed and 169 were injured before army tanks dispersed most rioters.
The clashes reinforced fears that Lebanon’s sectarian divisions are erupting into violence as they did during the 1975-1990 civil war.
“We are afraid about the future of the country. We are afraid about civil war,” said Mohammed Abdul-Sater, a 21-year-old Shiite student.
Shiites support the opposition, Sunnis back the prime minister and Christian parties are divided between the two camps. If sectarian divisions explode in Lebanon, Arab nations fear it would fuel further Sunni-Shiite tensions.
It was the third straight day of violence in Lebanon, and the chaos has paralyzed the government. In Paris at a crucial meeting of donor nations, U.S.-backed Prime Minister Fuad Saniora pleaded to his countrymen to “distance themselves from tensions.”
It’s a pity to waste Lebanon like this,” said Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally.
© Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora. (AP photo) |
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