Lebanon

Hizballah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah acknowledged Wednesday his group had brokered a prisoner swap with the Israeli government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

The deal involves the remains of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.  Hizballah fighters abducted the Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid in July 2006, an event that led to the July War between the military wing of Lebanese Hizballah and the Israeli military.

Nasrallah Wednesday said the speculation that the two Israeli soldiers were dead, however, was “not based on anything tangible.”

The Lebanese prisoners involved in the exchange are all still living.  The most controversial of them is Samir Kantar who is serving consecutive life terms for killing an Israeli policemen, a man and  his 4-year-old daughter in a 1979 northern Israeli attack.

It is alleged Kantar crushed the girls skull, sparking condemnation the deal marked a new low for Israeli prisoner negotiations.

Nasrallah said he would update Israeli officials on information regarding Israeli air force officer Ron Arad.  Shiite rebels captured Arad in 1986 when his plane was shot down over Lebanese territory. It is uncertain if Arad is alive or dead, however.

Meanwhile, the British Home Office Wednesday took measures to ban the military wing of the Shiite group over claims it had trained fighters in southern Iraq.  Iraqi lawmakers blame Hizballah for stoking sectarian violence in the region and Wednesday, a spokesmen for radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr suggested he would form an elite fighting force comprised of these specially-trained militants.

The British ban seemingly pertains only to the military wing of Hizballah and does not concern the political branches of the group.

DOHA, Qatar, May 21 (UPI) — Lebanese opposition movements and the Western-backed government declared a deal Wednesday in Qatar to end the 18-month political conflict and elect a president.

The Shiite opposition and the Lebanese government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora agreed to elect Lebanese army chief Gen. Michel Suleiman as president within 24 hours, give Hezbollah veto power in the Cabinet and adopt an electoral law that reflects a sectarian power-sharing arrangement, The New York Times said.

Qatari authorities in Doha said the arrangement paves the way for a unity government with 16 Cabinet positions for the ruling majority, 11 for the opposition, including Hezbollah, and three seats nominated by Suleiman.

A new electoral law mandates all parties to “commit themselves not to use weapons or violence in order to achieve political gains under any circumstances,” however that language leaves the status of Hezbollah weapons ambiguous, the Times said.

The relationship between Lebanon and the U.N. investigation into the Feb. 14, 2005, assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 10 others was left unresolved as well, the Times said.

The talks put an end to weeks of violence rocking Lebanon. Hezbollah fighters took to the streets May 7 when the Siniora government announced its opposition to the movement’s private telecommunications network.

A delegation of leaders from a roundtable summit in Qatar urged Lebanon to form a unity government as soon as possible to recover from the latest conflict pitting the Shiite opposition, including Hizballah, against the western-backed Sunni government of Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.

Qatari emir Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani met with Siniora and Parliament speaker Nabih Berri, the top opposition leader, during the weekend.  The summit produced two measures of reconciliation; new election laws and a power-sharing agreement for a unity government.  The Qatari delegates urged Lebanese officials to position Michel Suleiman, the chief of the Lebanese army, as the next president and delay new electoral laws. Proposals for the unity government include the distribution of 13 ministerial seats to the Sunni majority, 10 from the opposition movements and seven posts appointed by a new president.

The delegation became tense during the weekend over the issue of Hizballah weapons.  Their lawmaker Mohammed Raad said in a televised statement that the issue of weapons “is not up for discussion” while the Qatari delegation suggested including provisions banning militant weapons.  Akram Shehaib with the Druze delegation, however, moved away from the hard line demand on the issue instead opting for language banning weapons used “against the Lebanese people.”

Media and personal reports on the ground in Beirut say Hizballah fighters have taken control of the Lebanese capital Friday on the third day of conflict.  Sources say Hizballah officials are provoking the Lebanese government by asking them where their American supporters are in their time of need.

Gunfire escalated Friday morning as officials closed the international airport for the second straight day. Fighters took to the streets Thursday following a speech by Hizballah leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

Hezbollah seizes Beirut districts

By Agence France Presse (AFP)

Friday, May 09, 2008

by Jocelyne Zablit

BEIRUT, May 9, 2008 (AFP) - Hezbollah gunmen seized control of west Beirut on Friday after a third day of battles with pro-government foes in the Lebanese capital pushed the nation dangerously close to all-out civil war.

The fighting had eased by early afternoon as the army and police moved across areas now in the hands of opposition forces who fired celebratory gunshots wildly into the air after routing militants loyal to the Western-backed government.

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Gunfire erupted in Lebanon following a statement by Hizbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. CNN reporters trapped with Lebanese forces filed breifings Thursday from downtown Beirut.  The Lebanese army was pinned down by gunfire between rival Shiite and Sunni groups. Reports from the Green Line separating Sunni and Shiite communities suggest the Lebanese army, largely known for its policy of non-interference, is overwhelmed.

RPG and small arms fire erupted following statements from Nasrallah saying the Beirut western-backed government declared open war on Hizbollah. Snipers from opposition groups scrambled along rooftops targeting government forces who ventured out into the streets.

Video supplied by al Jazeera Thursday shows Lebanese army tanks rolling into the capital square.  While the military is on the move, they are largely pinned down.  With a politically charged atmosphere bringing the situation in Lebanon closer and closer to all out civil war, the intense firefights Thursday may signal larger things to come.

The latest conflict comes from accusations the Hizbollah telecommunications network was an illegal operation intent on spying on the government.  Sunni leaders accused Hizbollah of holding Lebanon hostage with its actions. Economic protests initially calling for higher wagers and the increasing disputes over the Lebanese presidency stoked swelling sectarian violence.

Officials closed the Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut Thursday morning as Hizballah supported demonstrators blocked the entrance with burning tires and mounds of earth.  Riots and gunbattles erupted for the second straight day amid labor protests and opposition to electoral laws ushering former military commander Michel Suleiman to the presidency.  Former President Emile Lahoud stepped down in November leaving Lebanon without a head of state.

Hizballah and other opposition leaders said they would protest in “civil disobedience”  Thursday, though there were reports of gunbattles in the eastern Bekaa Valley. Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah scheduled his first press conference in two years to discuss the opposition Thursday.

Lebanese riot police and army personnel deployed to the capital Beirut to prevent clashes between the opposition and pro-government supporters.  A protester with a percussive grenade wounded several Lebanese soldiers and civilians Wednesday and local television reports showed demonstrators with bloody faces.