Pat Dollard | Young Americans

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah warned on Thursday that a Lebanese government crackdown on his group was tantamount to a “declaration of war” as clashes escalated between supporters of rival political factions in the deeply divided country.

Nasrallah issued his ominous statement on the second day of anti-government protests, with gunfights in several parts of the country, roads blocked and Lebanon’s only international airport effectively shut down.

“The decisions (of the government) are tantamount to a declaration of war and the start of a war… on behalf of the United States and Israel,” a defiant Nasrallah said at a rare press conference via video link.

The Lebanese government on Tuesday launched a probe into a Hezbollah communication network and reassigned the head of airport security over his alleged links to Nasrallah’s powerful Shiite militant group.

“Our answer to this decision is this,” Nasrallah said. “We have the right to confront he who starts a war with us by defending our rights and our weapons.” As the long-running political crisis threatened to spiral out of control, at least eight people were reported wounded in clashes pitting mainly Sunni Muslim supporters of the Western-backed government against Shiite followers of the Hezbollah-led opposition

The army command warned that “if this situation continues, everyone will lose and this will affect the unity of the military.”

And newspapers drew parallels with the lead-up to the devastating 1975-1990 civil war.

The growing tension brought renewed expressions of support for Prime Minister Fuad Siniora from key Arab powers Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which warned Hezbollah against any steps that might worsen the situation.

Armed men, some hooded or masked, were seen in several mixed Sunni and Shiite neighbourhoods of Beirut, where troops and riot police spread and many schools and businesses remained shut for a second day.

Protesters burned tyres and lit fires along the airport road, which remained blocked by large mounds of earth dumped by Hezbollah supporters when a strike over wages on Wednesday degenerated into sectarian violence.

An airport official said all flights had been cancelled until at least 4:00 pm (1300 GMT), and it was unclear whether traffic would resume later.

Government loyalists burned tyres and set up road blocks along various points of the main highway in the east of the country leading to Syria, forcing travellers to find alternate routes, an AFP correspondent witnessed.

Five people were wounded, four of them women, a security official in the eastern town of Shtura told AFP. Three people were also wounded in the northern city of Tripoli in a shootout between rival factions.

The highway between the capital and the southern coastal city of Sidon was also closed by government supporters with burning tyres and piles of earth.

An official with Hezbollah ally Amal warned that the situation could get out of hand.

“It is clear the majority is seeking an escalation and wants to push the country toward a civil war,” the official told AFP. “What we are trying to do is calm down the situation.”

As-Safir newspaper, close to the opposition, said the situation was a “stark reminder for the Lebanese of the dark days of the civil war. They thought such incidents were a thing of the past and now new demarcation lines, with confessional tones, are emerging.”

“The two camps have crossed all the red lines and are heading toward an armed confrontation,” added Al-Akhbar, another paper close to the opposition.

The clashes erupted on Wednesday during a general strike called by the main labour union over price increases and wage demands.

The political crisis, the worst since the civil war, has left the country without a president since November, when pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud stepped down at the end of his mandate with no elected successor.

Egypt’s foreign minister repeated support for Siniora and implicitly blamed the opposition of “pushing for confrontation,” the press reported.

“The party that is pushing for confrontation and which persists along this path with disregard for civil peace will surely bear the historic responsibility for its actions,” he reportedly told Lebanese majority leader Saad Hariri in a telephone call.

Saudi Arabia also warned the opposition against an escalation.

“The kingdom urges the groups behind the escalation to reconsider their position, and to realise that leading Lebanon towards turmoil will not bring victory to any party except extremist external forces,” the state news agency SPA quoted an official as saying.

The Syrian- and Iranian-backed opposition has vowed to keep up the protests until the government cancels its crackdown on Hezbollah.

(AFP)