Hezbullah gunmen have opened fire on demonstrators outside the Iranian embassy in Beirut,
killing one of the protesters.
The Lebanese army deployed tanks and erected roadblocks across Beirut
following the shooting, fearing a flare-up in sectarian and factional
hostility. Protesters had condemned Iranian and Hezbollah backing for
the Syrian president in a civil war that has been spreading across
Lebanon's border.
...
They named the dead man as Hashem Salman of the Intima party, led by
Ahmad al-Assad whose family has been politically eclipsed within the
Shi'ite community since Iran and Syria backed Hezbollah during the
Lebanese civil war in the 1980s.
When the bus carrying the Intima
group stopped outside the embassy, Hezbollah supporters, identifiable by
their yellow arm-bands and black clothing, wearing pistols on their
belts, attacked the vehicle with batons, smashing its windows.
The
two groups scuffled in the road and the Hezbollah men drew their
weapons and opened fire. Several people appeared to be hit and fell, the
Reuters journalist said. Lebanon's official news agency put the number
of wounded in the incident at three.
...
Lebanese troops on Sunday strung barbed wire across roads around
central Beirut and along the highway running south through suburbs that
are a stronghold of Hezbollah support.
Demonstrators, including
Sunnis and members of Lebanon's large Christian community as well as
Shi'ites opposed to Hezbollah, had marched in the direction of the
Iranian mission.
Faster, faster.
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