Syria's civil war spills on to Lebanon streets

Monday 22 October 2012

LEBANON is braced for more violence after trouble erupted in downtown Beirut following the funeral of an assassinated intelligence chief whose death protesters blame on Syria.

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Mariam Karouny and Angus MacSwan beirut

Hundreds of protesters overturned barriers and threw stones and steel rods as they tried to storm the offices of Prime Minister Najib Mikati. Security forces shot into the air and police fired tear gas to repulse them.

Yesterday's clashes fed into a growing political crisis in Lebanon linked to the civil war in neighbouring Syria.Politicians at the funeral of Brigadier General Wissam al Hassan, who was killed by a car bomb on Friday, called on Mr Mikati to resign over the killing.The opposition believe he is too close to Syrian President Bashar al Assad and his Lebanese ally Hezbollah, part of Mr Mikati's government.Protesters waved flags from the anti-Syrian opposition Future Movement – a mainly Sunni Muslim party – and Christian Lebanese Forces, as well as black Islamist flags.They scattered after the security forces' action and there were no reports of serious injuries. Opposition leader Saad al Hariri urged supporters to refrain from any more violence."The government should fall but we want that in a peaceful way," he said. " I call on all those who are in the streets to pull back."Mr Hassan, 47, was a Sunni Muslim and senior intelligence official who helped uncover a bomb plot that led to the indictment in August of a pro-Damascus Lebanese former minister.He also led an investigation that implicated Syria and the Shi'ite Hezbollah in the assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister Rafik al Hariri in 2005.Thousands of people had filled central Martyrs' Square for his funeral ceremony, accusing Syria of involvement in the killing and calling for Mr Mikati to quit.Fouad al Siniora, a former prime minister, told the crowd there the opposition would reject any dialogue to overcome the political crisis caused by the assassination unless the government quits."No talks before the government leaves, no dialogue over the blood of our martyrs," said Mr Siniora , to roars of approval.At the start of the funeral, senior politicians and military and security leaders turned out at the Internal Security Force headquarters for a ceremony with full military honours that was broadcast live on national television.Mr Hassan's wife and two sons, the youngest weeping, listened as he was eulogised by the head of police, Ashraf Rifi, and President Michel Suleiman, who said the Government and people must work "shoulder to shoulder" to overcome the challenges posed by the killing.Church bells pealed as police officers carried the flag-draped coffins of Mr Hassan and his bodyguard to the mosque on Martyr's Square through chanting crowds. Muslim prayers were broadcast from the mosque.In the build-up to the funeral, people at the square had said they saw Syria's hand in the bombing. The prime minister was also a focus of their anger.Mr Mikati said on Saturday he had offered to resign to make way for a government of national unity but had accepted a request by President Michel Suleiman to stay in office for talks on solving the political crisis.Yesterday's events highlighted how the 19-month-old uprising against Assad in Syria has exacerbated deep-seated sectarian tensions in Lebanon, which is still scarred from its 1975-90 civil war.Sunni-led rebels are fighting to overthrow Mr Assad, who is from the Alawite minority that has its roots in Shi'ite Islam. Lebanon's religious groups are split between Assad supporters and those who back the rebels.In Damascus yesterday a car bomb killed 13 people as President Bashar al-Assad told an international mediator the key to any political solution to the civil war in the country was to stop arming rebels.The bomb exploded outside a police station in the mainly Christian Bab Touma district. United Nations-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi is pushing for a temporary ceasefire to mark the Islamic festival of Eid.

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Syria's civil war spills on to Lebanon streets

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