One dead in Lebanon clashes

[IronScorpio5]

At least one opposition student was shot dead and 25 were injured in street fights between rival groups of students loyal to the government and to the opposition at a Beirut university, witnesses and a security source said.

It was not immediately clear who shot the student in the head. Al-Manar television, run by the opposition's Shi'ite Muslim Hezbollah movement, blamed the shooting on pro-government gunmen loyal to Sunni leader Saad al-Hariri.

At least 25 people were injured, some by gunfire, in the clashes that included running battles with sticks and stones in the Arab University and nearby streets. Cars and tyres were set ablaze in the area.

Lebanese soldiers fired into the air to try to disperse the crowds, to no avail.

Television stations run by both camps blamed each other for the violence. Witnesses reported shots fired at the students from rooftops in the mainly Sunni areas and attacks by a Shi'ite mob on a Sunni-run school in another area of the capital.

Hezbollah issued a statement urging its supporters to pull out of the streets around the university while Hariri urged supporters to show self-restraint and calm.

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/01/25/lebanon.protests.reut/

[maddezmom]

1. reuters alternet: Death toll rises to 4

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L25631243.htm

[IronScorpio5]

2. Thank you for update

the government will fall soon to hezbollah

[IronScorpio5]

3. dup

[maddezmom]

4. Lebanese army imposes curfew in Beirut

BEIRUT, Lebanon - The Lebanese army, struggling to restore order to the streets of the capital after violence Thursday, has imposed a nighttime curfew in Beirut, a military official said.

The official, speaking on customary condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, told The Associated Press that the curfew would last from 8:30 p.m. Thursday until 6 a.m. Friday.


link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070125/ap_on_re_mi_ea/lebanon_curfew

[Amused Musings]

5. This trouble has been brewing

since the Cedar Revolution and exploded with the conflict this past summer. This is speculation but I wonder if the Sunni powers (read: Saudi Arabia- as they are the wealthiest) in the region are using the Lebanese government (with the blessing of the US no doubt) in a proxy war to disrupt Iranian influence, Hizbollah's main paymaster. The US gambled that a success in Iraq would give them the upper hand in demanding the end of the Iranian nuclear program and perhaps a dismantlement of the regime in Tehran. But the ensuing fiasco in Iraq put an end to those ambitions. The US cannot openly attack (or give Israel the go ahead for that matter) Iran because the Iranians will make Iraq one thousand times worse than it is right now. The Saudis are terrified about what the consequences of having a failed state next to them at worst, an Iranian puppet at best. Meanwhile, the Lebanese people, once the shining hope of the Middle East suffer.

[maddezmom]

6. from yesterday: Reuters: Saudi, Iran working on deal to end Lebanon crisis

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=2701734

[Amused Musings]

7. Interesting

I hope talks yields something soon. Do you think they are for show or will they result in something tangible? What do you think?

[maddezmom]

8. I'm hoping something tangible, but time will tell. I'm thinking it probably

had more to do with the DAVOS talks and donor talks in Paris. One can just keeping hoping that someone will see the light.