Israel Matzav

Lebanon teeters on the edge, where's the media?

One has to wonder why this story has not gotten more play. Pro and anti-Assad factions have been battling it out for the last three days on the streets of Tripoli, Lebanon, which is generally one of that country's quieter cities.

Let's go to the videotape.

Lebanese media reported several people injured Saturday night in the fierce fighting between pro- and anti-Bashar Assad partisans in the country’s second largest city, as sectarian tensions threatened to plunge the country into further chaos.

The army said Saturday night it would enter the Alawite neighborhood of Jabal Mohsen to restore order, after the worst fighting the city has seen since the latest round of violence erupted on Thursday.

Some seven people have been killed and scores more injured in three days of fighting, according to Lebanese media.

On Friday, gunmen who support and oppose Assad clashed in Tripoli, leaving six people dead and more than 20 wounded, according to the National News Agency. Clashes between the Sunni neighborhood of Bab Tabbaneh, which supports Syria’s rebels, and Jabal Mohsen, which supports Assad, have broken out repeatedly in recent months. Assad is Alawite, a Shiite offshoot sect.

Earlier on Saturday, Mikati began his first day as caretaker prime minister until a new government can be elected.

Mikati’s abrupt resignation plunged the nation into uncertainty amid heightened sectarian tensions and clashes related to the civil war next door in Syria.

Mikati stepped down on Friday amid a political deadlock between Lebanon’s two main political camps and infighting within his own government.

“I hope that this resignation will provide an opening in the existing deadlock and pave the way for a (political) solution,” Mikati said, following a meeting with Michel Suleiman.

Mikati has been prime minister since June 2011, heading a government dominated by the Shiite militant group Hezbollah and its allies, many of whom have a close relationship with Syria.

Has anyone noticed yet that there is only one stable country in this region? Hmmm.

Labels: Bashar al-Assad, Free Syrian Army, Lebanon, Syrian uprising, Tripoli

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:14 AM