Lebanon's army determined to restore order

22 Oct 2012, 11:14 pm   -   Source: AAP

The Lebanese army has vowed to restore order as clashes between those who support the Syrian regime and its opponents cause tensions to rise.

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The army says it is determined to restore order in Lebanon, amid growing political tensions linked to Syria after a top policeman was murdered and former premier Saad Hariri called for the government to step down.

Amid fears Lebanon will be further affected by the conflict in Syria, the envoys to Beirut of the UN Security Council's permanent members condemned any attempt to destabilise the situation and called for national unity.

The army is "committed to its role of stopping security breaches and maintaining civil order", a statement from the high command said on Monday.

"Recent developments prove decidedly that the country is going through a critical time, and the level of tension in some areas has reached unprecedented levels," it said.

It will take "resolute measures, particularly in areas of mounting sectarian friction ... to prevent the assassination of martyred General Wissam al-Hassan from being exploited as an opportunity to murder the nation as a whole".

Hassan, a Sunni Muslim, died in a car bomb attack on Friday widely blamed on Syria, and his death has prompted much of the violence since then.

Lebanon is a multi-faith country in which Christians, Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims each make up about one-third of the population.

It has a complex but unwritten arrangement under which the president must always be a Maronite Christian, the premier a Sunni and the speaker of parliament a Shi'ite.

The army statement came as troops responded after being fired on as they tried to clear a road in the capital that had been blocked by partisans of Hariri despite his calls for them to stay off the streets.

In the northern port of Tripoli, a Sunni bastion where opposition to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is strong, a woman was killed on Monday and a four-year-old girl wounded in clashes with Alawites, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam to which Assad belongs.

During the night, three people were killed and 26 wounded in heavy fighting in the city.

Clashes have erupted regularly in Tripoli between pro- and anti-Assad supporters as tensions spill across the border from Syria, where a 19-month-old anti-regime revolt has left more than 34,000 people dead.

In the capital, six people were wounded after the army made a pre-dawn sweep through the Sunni district of Tariq Jdideh in pursuit of armed men, and automatic weapons and anti-tank rocket fire could be heard.

Hariri, a former premier who heads Lebanon's parliamentary opposition, said he was determined to oust the government of Prime Minister Najib Mikati "by peaceful and democratic means".

Sunnis are furious over the perceived Syrian assassination of Hassan, also a Sunni, who was noted for pursuing alleged Syrian crimes in Lebanon, including the 2005 assassination of Hariri's father, Rafiq.

Hassan was laid to rest on Sunday amid calls for Mikati - whose government is dominated by Hezbollah, the Sunnis' rival, to stand down.

Hezbollah is a strong ally of Assad and of Iran. Its militia, which never disarmed after the 1975-90 civil war, is the most powerful military force in the country.

Following the funeral, a few hundred young men tried to storm the Serail, the seat of government, but were driven back by police firing in the air and using tear gas.

Later, Hariri appealed to his partisans "to stay off the streets, because we want to oust this government by peaceful and democratic means".

Lebanese university professor Ghassan al-Azzi said Hariri is focusing his political fire on Mikati, a fellow Sunni, rather than taking Hezbollah head on, because that would lead to a confrontation between Sunnis and Shi'ites.

"If you take Hezbollah on directly, it means without a doubt that you are in favour of civil war."

Clashes between Sunni and Shi'ite gunmen in Beirut in 2008 brought the country close to the brink of a new civil war.

The funeral for Wissam, who was intelligence chief of the Internal Security Forces (ISF), had been billed as an opportunity to protest Syrian meddling in Lebanon but the mood quickly turned to fury at Mikati.

During funeral orations, former premier Fuad Siniora called on Mikati to resign, adding his voice to many others since Hassan and two others were killed and 126 wounded.

Siniora said the "government is responsible for the crime that killed Wissam and his chauffeur. That is why he must go."

Mikati said on Saturday he would stay on, at President Michel Sleiman's request, to avoid a "political vacuum" in volatile Lebanon.

He has made no public comment on the matter since then.

Meanwhile, the ambassadors of Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States met with President Michel Sleiman on Monday and "underlined their determination that the perpetrators and sponsors of this terrorist act should be brought to justice".

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