Beirut – Hezbollah-led protesters burned tires and cars and clashed with government supporters Tuesday, paralyzing Beirut and areas across Lebanon in the worst violence yet in the pro-Iranian group’s campaign to topple U.S.-backed Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.
At least three people were killed and dozens injured as the two camps battled each other around street barricades with stone-throwing and in some cases gunfire. Black smoke poured into the sky over Beirut from burning roadblocks.
The fighting quickly took on a dangerous sectarian tone in a country whose divided communities fought a bloody 1975-90 civil war. Gunmen from neighboring districts in the northern city of Tripoli – one largely Sunni Muslim, the other largely Alawites, a Shiite Muslim offshoot – fought each other, causing two of the fatalities.
The day gave a frightening glimpse of how quickly the confrontation between Siniora’s government and the Iranian- backed Hezbollah and its allies could spiral out of control, inflame tensions among Sunnis, Shiites and Christians, and throw Lebanon into deeper turmoil.
In the evening, the opposition announced it would call off the roadblocks and the nationwide general strike that sparked the unrest, saying it had delivered a warning to the government. But it threatened more protests.
Suleiman Franjieh, a Christian opposition leader, told Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV the next steps “will be nothing compared to what we saw today” if the government does not respond to the opposition’s demands.
The Hezbollah-led opposition is growing increasingly frustrated after two months of sit-in protests outside Siniora’s offices in downtown Beirut failed to force him to step down or form a new government giving the opposition more power.
Siniora vowed not to give in, saying in a televised address: “We will stand together against intimidation and to confront sedition.” But he repeated his willingness to discuss a political solution to the impasse and called for a special session of parliament.
