Home Blog Hizbullah Fighters Advance in Some Beirut Districts, Occupy MP Ammar Houry's Residence

Hizbullah Fighters Advance in Some Beirut Districts, Occupy MP Ammar Houry's Residence

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Written by News Editor

Friday, 09 May 2008

Hizbullah fighters advanced in Beirut in fierce clashes with Mustaqbal Movement partisans and occupied the apartment of MP Ammar Houry, setting it ablaze. Houry's apartment in Shahadeh district of the plush Tallet al-Khayat neighborhood was overran by Hizbullah fighters, his cars were smashed and set ablaze as terrorized residents tried to escape the area, witnesses told Naharnet. Houry, according to a family source, is safe and was not at home when the attack started. Clashes raged after Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah vowed to use weapons to defend his communications network and Mustaqbal Movement leader Saad Hariri offered a compromise placing the disputed government decisions in the hands of the Lebanese army command. Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat declared support for the Hariri initiative and proposed a concept of "coexistence with the resistance if the present balance of powers does not permit absorbing it in the army." At least three people were killed and eight wounded by sniper fire in Beirut's district of Ras al-Nabaa where hand-to-hand fighting raged between Hizbullah and Mustaqbal partisans. Hariri's offer included reopening of roads, withdrawing gunmen from the streets, the immediate election of army commander Gen. Michel Suleiman president and shifting to national dialogue under Suleiman's auspices. Hariri said if Nasrallah accepted his offer it would mean that he has chosen the path of supporting the concept of a state, otherwise he would be seeking to replace the state. Jumblat also said if Nasrallah rejected the Hariri offer, it means that he is trying to replace the state. Commenting on Nasrallah's press conference, Hariri said the Hizbullah leader declared "I am the state." Hariri pledged that "Beirut would not bow." Staccato bursts of automatic rifle fire echoed across Beirut's western sector accompanied with the explosions of RPGs. Gunmen were seen speeding to confrontation areas as Jumblat said his partisans should defend their homes against attacks, as ambulances, sirens wailing, evacuated casualties to hospitals. An extraordinary session by the cabinet ended without declaring any decisions as Defense Minister Elias Murr headed to meet Suleiman to officially inform him of the Hariri initiative. Nasrallah, in a closed circuit press conference, accused the government of launching war against Hizbullah, stressing that "this is a new era in which all red lines have collapsed." "We are in war and they wouldn't be able to predict our reaction," Nasrallah said. Shortly after his press conference was over, clashes broke out between Hizbullah members and Mustaqbal movement supporters in Beirut districts of Msaitbeh, Ras Nabaa, Mazraa and Basta. Nasrallah said his wire communications network is a "weapon" vital for Hizbullah's resistance and security of the party's leaders. "The hand that extends to touch the network would be chopped off," Nasrallah threatened. He also accused Jumblat of being the "real prime minister, and (Premier Fouad) Saniora is his poor employee." Nasrallah described the government as a "black gang" and said it was trying to change Beirut airport into a "base for the (U.S.) Central Intelligence Agency, The Federal Bureau of Investigation and (Israel's) Mossad." "We wouldn't allow them to do that. Brig Wafiq Shoqeir remains commander of airport security and any officer who tries to take up the post would be treated as a spy," Nasrallah said. The only way out of the ongoing impasse, according to Nasrallah, is "withdrawing the dark decisions adopted by the black gang."

 

 

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