Lebanese violence reaches Tripoli
Pastor Dale Morgan
Lebanese violence reaches Tripoli*
Sunni government supporters celebrate as they burn Baath Party offices
in Tripoli on 10 May
Tripoli has seen a wave of anger against Syria
Fighting has been reported through the night in the Lebanese city of
Tripoli between Hezbollah sympathisers and supporters of the government.
Machine-guns and rocket-propelled grenades are being used and people
have been fleeing their homes, correspondents say.
Three people died in the northern city on Saturday.
Meanwhile, an uneasy calm has descended on the capital, Beirut, scene of
four days of bloody street battles.
More than 30 people died in those clashes between Hezbollah fighters and
government supporters.
On Saturday, Hezbollah agreed to pull its fighters off the streets of
the Muslim western part of the city after the army overturned government
measures aimed at curbing the group.
Offices burnt
Sunni supporters of the Western-backed government have been fighting
members of an Alawite sect loyal to Hezbollah in Tripoli, an unnamed
security official told AFP news agency.
High stakes of Lebanon's crisis
In pictures: Battle for Beirut
About 7,000 people have fled from the city's Bab al-Tebbaneh district,
which marks the front line, the official said.
Earlier, pro-government demonstrators burnt offices of the pro-Syrian
Baath Party offices.
They stamped on posters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
They could also be seen throwing furniture and files from the Baath
offices and a local opposition politician's office, The Associated Press
reports.
Face-saving initiative
The confrontation in Beirut eased off after the army offered a
face-saving compromise that allowed the government to back down from two
controversial decisions.
Shia gunman packs away his gun
Hezbollah gunmen have been pulling back in Beirut
The government had moved to shut down Hezbollah's telecoms network and
remove the chief of security at Beirut airport for alleged Hezbollah
sympathies.
Those decisions triggered a devastating Hezbollah onslaught, the BBC's
Jim Muir reports from Beirut
The army has essentially shelved both of them.
Managing to retain its unity and the respect of both sides, the army has
emerged as the arbiter in the current crisis, our correspondent says.
If all goes well, the army initiative should restore calm on the streets
and see the international airport reopen.
While it does not address the fundamental political deadlock underlying
the eruption of violence, it has created a problem-solving mechanism
that may help movement in that direction.
Our correspondent notes that all parties agree that the army commander,
Gen Michel Suleiman, should be Lebanon's next president.