Lebanon buries victims of violent clashes, tension remains high – South West

Pro-Iranian Hezbollah and its ally, the Amal movement, buried Friday, October 15 the victims of the most violent clashes in years in Lebanon, which shook central Beirut and rekindled the specter of civil war.

Six of the seven people killed were members of the two Shiite parties who staged a protest outside the capital’s courthouse on Thursday to demand the replacement of the judge in charge of the investigation into the explosion at the port of the capital last year.

The Shiite formations accuse the Christian party of the Lebanese Forces of having deployed snipers on the roofs of surrounding buildings and of having targeted their supporters who were approaching the Christian neighborhoods adjoining the area. The Lebanese Forces denied and demanded an official investigation, accusing Hezbollah of having “invaded” Christian neighborhoods on the fringes of the demonstration.

The tension remained high on Friday, declared a day of national mourning, despite the forceful deployment of the Lebanese army in the neighborhoods which were the scene of the clashes.

On Thursday, hundreds of Amal and Hezbollah militiamen were deployed in the streets of the Tayouné sector, near the Palace of Justice, near the old demarcation line during the civil war (1975-1990) between Muslim and Christian neighborhoods.

The exact circumstances of the violence that occurred in this sector remain unclear. The army reported “exchanges of fire” “when the demonstrators were on their way to protest in front of the Palace of Justice”. Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said “snipers” fired at the demonstrators.

The deluge of fire that descended on this area terrorized the inhabitants, reviving the specter of the civil war which they believed to have forgotten. Mariam Daher, a 44-year-old mother, said she was “terrified” by the idea of ​​a return to civil war. “I can’t relive this experience. I want to leave and protect my children, ”she said.

Moscow on Friday called on those involved in the crisis to “show restraint” and Riyadh called on the Lebanese leaders to “make real and serious changes”. France for its part called Thursday for “appeasement” and the United States for “de-escalation”, the two countries insisting on “the independence of justice”. UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric called for “an end to provocative acts” and pleaded for an “impartial investigation” into the explosion at the port.

Government crisis

Hundreds of people attended the funerals of the two Hezbollah operatives, whose coffins were wrapped in the party’s yellow flag and framed by fighters in fatigues. A third Hezbollah member has been buried north of Beirut.

The Amal movement, for its part, buried three of its members, including one, aged 26, amid heavy gunfire during a funeral in a village in Lebanon, as women threw flowers on the coffin. The seventh victim is a mother of five, killed by a stray bullet while at home and counted among Hezbollah’s “martyrs”. According to the Ministry of Health, 32 people were injured.

This violence increases political tension in the country, where Hezbollah and its allies demand the departure of judge Tareq Bitar who, despite strong pressure, wants to prosecute several officials as part of his investigation into the explosion at the Beirut port of August 4, 2020 (more than 200 dead).

But politicians refuse to be questioned even though authorities have admitted that the huge amounts of ammonium nitrate that exploded had been stored at the port for years without precaution. The protest came after the Court of Cassation dismissed complaints from deputies and ex-ministers against Mr. Bitar, allowing him to resume his investigations.

The case caused the most serious crisis for the government of Najib Mikati since its formation last month. A cabinet meeting on Tuesday nearly imploded amid demand from ministers of Shiite parties to replace the judge. The government has not met since, Amal and Hezbollah demanding that it rule on this matter and the other members of the cabinet defending the separation of powers.