TrueBlueAmerican

Title
Hezbollah Liberates Beirut, Lebanon

Link
Hezbollah seizes control in west Beirut - International Herald Tribune
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Excerpt

BEIRUT: Heavily armed Hezbollah fighters seized control of large parts of west Beirut on Friday, patrolling the deserted streets in a show of force that underscored the Shiite militia's refusal to back down in its escalating confrontation with the American-backed government.

Hezbollah allies also forced a government-allied satellite television station off the air and burned the offices of its newspaper affiliate, as Sunni fighters loyal to the government largely melted away, outnumbered and outgunned, during a third day of armed clashes here.

Those humiliating blows made clearer than ever the power of Hezbollah and its allies, which have links with Iran and Syria, over the government majority in the political stalemate that has crippled Lebanon for 17 months.

By Friday afternoon, Hezbollah fighters and paramilitaries were riding joyfully through west Beirut in trucks and cars and on scooters, shouting and firing weapons into the air in a victory celebration.

The government majority issued an urgent appeal for help from other nations Friday evening, calling Hezbollah's actions an "armed coup" on Lebanon and its democratic system using "weapons sent by Tehran."


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The gun battles of the past three days have pitted Sunni Muslims against Shiites, with Lebanon's divided Christians - including Michel Aoun, the former general who is allied with Hezbollah - sitting out the conflict. The clashes appeared to be exacerbating sectarian tensions between Muslims here, in an ominous echo of the civil conflict in Iraq.

The Lebanese Army - the one institution viewed as neutral in the country's bitter political struggle - has stood by during the clashes, unwilling to take sides. Hezbollah and its allies handed control of some government offices to the army on Friday after commandeering them, hoping to avoid being seen as a conquering force.

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