The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #95033   Message #1961372
Posted By: beardedbruce
08-Feb-07 - 01:41 PM
Thread Name: BS: Peace by UN standards
Subject: RE: BS: Peace by UN standards
"BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) -- Beirut emerged Friday from an overnight curfew imposed after deadly clashes erupted between pro-government and opposition supporters at Beirut Arab University.

No violence was reported early Friday.

All vehicles and people had been banned from Beirut's streets from 8:30 p.m. Thursday until 6 a.m. local time Friday. ( Watch the smashing of car windows amid street clashes )

Thursday's fighting came two days after a Hezbollah-led general strike to topple the government. It was unclear what sparked the violence, which was generally contained on the university campus.

But fighting in Beirut also raged elsewhere Thursday.

Cars were set afire, and plumes of black smoke hung in the air. At one point, some protesters launched a fire bomb toward Lebanese soldiers, but mostly they threw rocks at each other.

Earlier Thursday, video footage from the scene showed young men smashing car windows with wooden batons and others throwing stones as soldiers watched from sidewalks.

Four people were killed and 152 were wounded, according to Lebanese security sources. (Full story)

Video showed what Lebanese news media said were the Syrian national party offices on fire.

Machine gun fire near campus
The clashes began around 3:30 p.m. (8:30 a.m. ET) between students backing Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's pro-Western government and another group that supports the opposition Hezbollah.

Siniora denounced the violence Thursday from a donors' conference in Paris where the international community pledged $7.6 billion Thursday in aid to Lebanon's embattled government for reconstruction after the war between Israel and Hezbollah last summer. (Full story)

"For all those who took to the streets today to express their opinion in some way or another ... I would appeal to all Lebanese to stay away from any hot spots and renounce the temptation to fan the flames of tension and conflict," Siniora said.

He said the unrest serves the interests of Lebanon's enemies and urged the demonstrators to disband.

Shortly after the fighting erupted, CNN's Nic Robertson saw young men carrying baseball bats on street corners in a Hezbollah-dominated neighborhood near the university, which is in southern Beirut several miles from the airport. (Full story)

Machine gun fire could be heard coming from the university area, but it was unclear who was firing the weapons.

Lebanese soldiers immediately closed the streets leading to the university and armored personnel carriers were seen patrolling the streets.

After sunset, Lebanese soldiers stationed near the university gate fired their weapons into the air in an attempt to keep the two rival groups away from each other, Robertson reported. (Watch soldiers dodge hail of rocks )

His reports were interrupted numerous times by the sounds of the soldiers' gunfire.

From time to time, the soldiers would open the university's gates, fire into the air, then lower their weapons and gesture for the protesters to disband.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, speaking on his party's Al Manar TV, urged against the demonstrations and called for an end to the violence.

Earlier in the day, pro-Syrian Lebanese President Emile Lahoud and parliament speaker Nabih Berri, leader of the Shia Amal Party, also called for calm in the capital.

Robertson reported a "tense calm" around 6 p.m. (11 a.m. ET), but said he could hear gunfire emanating from another part of the university's campus."

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But I guess civilian casualties don't matter unless you can blame them on Israel.

Check back ovet the last three months, and see the casualty count in Lebanon, since the Hezbollah was "disarmed" by the ceasefire...