Three people were killed and four others wounded in armed clashes that raged well into the early morning hours Tuesday in east Lebanon's Bekaa Valley between pro- and anti-government supporters. News reports said rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and machine gunfire were used in the fighting that took place in the villages of Taalbaya and Saadnayel.
Al Mustaqbal daily, however, said fighting erupted after a quarrel broke out between Hizbullah and AMAL fighters from one hand and Lebanese soldiers on the other. Hizbullah and AMAL fighters opened fire on Taalbaya and Saadnayel, engaging the “population in the clashes in an attempt to cover up their fight with the army.”
This is yet another reason for all parties, to come together and understand, that if they fail to form a government, it will get worse, before it gets better.
A Western intelligence report quoted by Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) said on Monday that “organized terrorist activities in Lebanon are on the rise.”
What I find important is the fact that the report points out to Syrian involvement.
The Bekaa Valley and North Lebanon have in particular witnessed a rise in terrorist-related activities and infiltration has often been facilitated by Syrian authorities, the report says.
In 2007, Toni Nissi and his team did a great job reporting on this matter. Make sure you read the report provided here.
In other news, it has been announced that President Michel Suleiman will host an inter-sect religious meeting next week. In a country divided on sectarian affiliation, such meetings are a must. Good to see President Suleiman making efforts to be a mediator. It depends on others to let him do that, but as long as he keeps trying, there is still a chance.
Ayatollah Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah had a moment of clarity and “slammed the role tribalism plays in Lebanese political life, saying that most Lebanese politicians inherited their political status, which they often then abused to serve personal interests.”
He added that these confessional problems also served foreign interference in Lebanese, issues which some politicians “justified while calling on sovereignty and independence.”
Fadlallah also denounced the impunity that the “political system developed toward Lebanon's bloody and criminal history, as it pushes all those who committed political murders to relapse into crime.”
Kudos to Sheikh Fadlallah for calling a spade, spade.
