Violence accents Hezbollah strike

Mohamad Bazzi

January 24, 2007

BEIRUT, Lebanon - A nationwide strike organized by Hezbollah turned violent yesterday, pitting Shias against Sunnis and exposing how deeply entrenched sectarian tensions have become in Lebanon.

Three people were killed and dozens injured throughout the country in the worst violence since Hezbollah and its allies began an open-ended protest on Dec. 1 to topple U.S.-backed Prime Minister Fuad Saniora. Protesters shut down Beirut's international airport and paralyzed much of the country.

Before dawn, Hezbollah dispatched groups of young Shia men, some wearing ski masks, to close all major roads by burning tires and cars. In a scene reminiscent of Lebanon's 15-year civil war, Sunni gangs set up impromptu checkpoints in Beirut neighborhoods to prevent Shias from entering.

"The Shia are trying to occupy our neighborhood," said Ahmed Karim, 22, a student who wielded a bat and stood among a group of 50 Sunnis near Beirut's seaside corniche. "We must protect ourselves."

About 500 yards away, dozens of Hezbollah supporters gathered around a car they had set ablaze to block traffic. The two groups yelled insults at each other and occasionally threw rocks, prompting Lebanese soldiers to rush between them, firing bullets into the air. As they confronted Hezbollah supporters bused into Sunni areas of Beirut, some Sunnis waved posters of Saddam Hussein.

Last night, Hezbollah and its main ally, Christian politician and former army commander Michel Aoun, called off the strike. But the opposition warned that if Saniora's government does not resign, there will be more dramatic protests.

Saniora showed no sign of backing down, and the main Arab power brokers, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, are supporting him to avoid setting a precedent of mass protests toppling an Arab government. Lebanon's crisis has created a new proxy conflict between Shia-dominated Iran, which supports Hezbollah, and Sunni Arab regimes allied with the United States.

"We will stand together against intimidation and to confront sedition," Saniora said in a televised speech.

The conflict has split Lebanon along sectarian lines, with most Shias supporting Hezbollah and most Sunnis backing the Sunni prime minister. Christians are divided between the two factions. Many Christians and Sunnis are furious with Hezbollah for instigating a 34-day war with Israel. After guerrillas abducted two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12, Israel retaliated with its most intense attack since it invaded Lebanon in 1982.

Hezbollah leaders have repeatedly accused Saniora's government of being a U.S. puppet and said its only choices are to step down or to give the Shia militia veto power in the current cabinet. In November, six ministers, including all five Shia representatives, resigned after talks to give Hezbollah and Aoun more clout in the 24-member cabinet broke down.

Saniora's cabinet is dominated by a coalition of Sunni, Christian and Druze parties that forced Syrian troops out of Lebanon after the February 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The ruling coalition blames Syria for the killing, and accuses Hezbollah of walking out of the cabinet to block a United Nations investigation into Hariri's murder.

Shias are a plurality in Lebanon, making up about 40 percent of the population of 4 million. But because the political system dictates that all of the country's major sects must be represented in the cabinet and parliament, Shias do not have power equal to their numbers.

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