Firefight in Beirut, Lebanon.

On Friday, 9 May 2008, the third day of fierce armed clashes broke out between supporters of the Lebanese government and the opposition in the neighborhoods of al-Jadida, Kornish al-Mazra and Cola Bridge.The current unrest in Lebanon is part of a plot staged by the US and Israel aimed at disarming Hezbollah, a Hezbollah official says. They are planning to dismantle Hezbollah's weapons as well as the movement's logistic equipment, a Hezbollah official told the Saudi daily al-Madina. Clashes took place in Beirut, Tripoli and as far south as 48 kilometer from Beirut in Sayda.

All roads in and outside Beirut have been blocked, amid reports that by 3pm, the opposition has taken full control of three districts of the capital. The Lebanese army had earlier seized control of leader of the ruling coalition Saad Hariri's radio and television stations and the Future newspaper. Fierce clashes erupted in Beirut following a rocket attack on Hariri's residence in Koraytem neighborhood, but the fighting stopped a few hours later. The army has taken the responsibility of protecting Druze community leader, Walid Jumblatt and the opposition has agreed to put him under army protection. Meanwhile, Israeli troops started extensive movements near the border with Lebanon.

The plan started immediately after the war when sometime in February 2008 the Druze MP Walid Jumlatt had two secret meeting, one with the Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and another with Israeli Prime Minister's Olmert's representative in the presence of US Vice President Dick Cheney. Then weapons, ammunitions and fighting vehicles started pouring into Lebanon and disallowed to be check by the authorities, highly probable from US and Israel, for Walid Jumblatt's Progressive Socialist Party, Fouad Siniora's Militia, Saad Hariri's Future Movement, Samri Geagea's Lebanese Forces militiamen and Al-Qaedah. With all those firepower, these pro-western forces launched a series of acts to cut off Hezbollah from their ability to fight Israel, and this had ignited the firefight.


Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini says Washington and Tel Aviv are fomenting the current violence in Lebanon. "Since they [the US and Israel] failed to accomplish their vicious ambitions during the 33-day war against the Lebanese nation, they have sought revenge by targeting the country's independence, sovereignty and national unity," Hosseini said on Friday."Thus, instability in Lebanon was predictable to some degree," he continued.

The cabinet on Tuesday launched a probe into a communications network set up by Hezbollah and sacked the security chief of Beirut Airport over alleged links the movement. Nasrallah also warned that the Lebanese government's moves against the resistance movement amount to declaration of war on behalf of the United States and Israel. "Anyone who seeks to disarm Hezbollah is considered a mercenary of Israel and should be tried according to law," he noted. That include Fouad Siniora.


The Lebanese March 14 bloc says it could retreat from its decisions against Hezbollah amid an ongoing political crisis in the country. Saad Hariri, the leader of the pro-government bloc in Parliament, said the March 14 camp could reverse its decision against Hezbollah in a bid to put an end to the ongoing clashes, a Press TV correspondent in Beirut reported. During a televised interview, Hariri said the bloc could lift the ban on Hezbollah's communications network and reinstall the sacked security chief of Beirut Airport. Hariri, further, said Army Commander Michel Suleiman could be given the authority to suspend the implementation of the decisions. He suggested that Suleiman be elected president and rival camps resume national unity talks under his auspices.

Informed media sources told Press TV that Siniora might announce his resignation at 8:00 pm local time on Friday. A Lebanese news website later reported that Siniora would resign on Friday and assign the army to take responsibilities of his cabinet until a transitional government is formed. The leader of the Progressive Socialist Party, Walid Jublatt said Friday that the resignation of Siniora's government is not on the table but the government is mulling over reserving its previous decisions. Opposition figure Michel Aoun says he hopes the government would resign and the opposition would end its sit-in in central Beirut on Friday.

Meanwhile, gunmen affiliated to majority leader Saad Hariri's al-Mostaqbal (Future) Movement have moved to eastern parts of Beirut where they are planning to team up with Amin Gemayel's al-Katayeb and Samri Geagea's Lebanese Forces militiamen.The al-Mostaqbal party also evacuated its offices in the southern city of Sidon and the army is now in their control. At least 11 people have been killed in fierce battles in the Lebanese capital, Beirut - which is now under control of the opposition.

Former Lebanese president Amin Gemayel says al-Qaeda has surged into the country, making Lebanon vulnerable to 'any possibility'. Gemayel told ANB on Friday that the move by the Hezbollah Movement to confront the government is in lines with 'the coup' that the opposition has started. "The victory that they think they have achieved is only a trap," the former president said, who is in Paris.


What complicates matters is the role played by US-Israel-their Arab lackeys, they had taken the opportunity of redefining the war to be a Shia Versus Sunni war. With opportunists like Walid Jumblatt, Fuad Siniora, Saad Hariri, Samri Geagea will definitely siding against Hezbollah. The report came while some Arab media outlets described the current clashes in Lebanon as a fight between Sunni and Shia communities.In an interviews with Sunni clerics with links to Saad Hariri's pro-government bloc, Al-Arabiya TV network described the ongoing clashes as a sectarian strife. The TV network reported that al-Qaeda on all of its websites urged its operatives to defend the Sunni community of Lebanon. For example, The Lebanon Mufti Mohamad Rashid Kabbani said the struggle is between Hezbollah and the Sunnis.

The reports came while in interviews with NBN and al-Manar TV stations on Thursday, a number of Sunni clerics said that the clashes are not a sectarian strife and many Sunni Muslims in Lebanon support Hezbollah."What Sheikh Kabbani said about the struggle being between Hezbollah and the Sunnis is false. The struggle is political between a US-Zionist project and forces of resistance extending beyond Lebanon. Some insist to give this struggle a religious nature to please Washington or some Arab rulers," according to a Sunni group, Da'wa Academy Dean Sheikh Abdul Nasser al-Jabri


Sheikh Abdul Nasser al-Jabri also said that Beirut is for all its citizens and not for only one group.Sheikh Jabri said "He called on Saniora to respond to the demands of the people, "especially the demands of Sunni Muslims, and take a heroic step that would take us out of this American tunnel."Among the Sunni group that had given their support to the opposition are ITTIHAD PARTY, MOURABITOUN PARTY and Former MP Adnan Arakji, who said that Mufti Kabbani does not have the right to talk on behalf of all the Sunnis in Lebanon.