2 People Wounded in Clashes between Rival Druze Parties in Aley
Two people were wounded in clashes late Sunday between members of Druze leader Walid Jumblat”s Progressive Socialist Party and rivals from the Lebanese Democratic Party, security officials said.
They said the fight occurred when a convoy of PSP supporters came under fire as it drove past the offices of the rival LDP, headed by Talal Arslan, in the mountainous town of Aley, 15 kilometers southeast of Beirut.
“Shots were heard and a passer-by was wounded by a stray bullet,” one security official told AFP, describing his condition as serious. He said a girl who was traveling in the party convoy was slightly injured.
An official from Jumblat”s party — which is part of the ruling anti-Syrian March 14 coalition — said that the convoy came under fire and that four people were injured.
Several similar incidents have occurred recently in Beirut, with tensions running high because of a long-running political crisis in Lebanon.
The incident came hours after Jumblat warned the opposition that March 14 was ready to go to war if Hizbullah was after disorder.
Shots were also fired around 9 pm Sunday in a quarrel between supporters of Mustaqbal leader Saad Hariri and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri”s security guards in Beirut”s Ein el-Tineh neighborhood, the security official said.
“A convoy from the Future movement was driving by Berri”s residence. Apparently some heated words were exchanged with Berri”s security service and shots were fired.”
He said there did not appear to be any injuries.
Sunday”s clashes come just days before Lebanon marks the third anniversary of the assassination of Hariri”s father Rafik Hariri in a massive Beirut bomb blast on February 14, 2005.
“It is very strange to see that the trend is to escalate the situation at a time when the Arab League is trying to resolve the standoff over the presidency,” said one official close to the opposition.
Saad Hariri”s Future movement is at loggerheads with the Syrian-backed opposition — of which Berri is a leading member — over the choice of a new president.
Lebanon has been without a head of state since November when the pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud stood down and the rival factions have been unable to agree on a successor, with 14 planned parliamentary votes cancelled because of the deadlock.
Picture: (AFP/File/Anwar Amro)