Lebanon on edge after deadly clashes

BEIRUT, Lebanon－Schools, banks and government offices across Lebanon shut down on Friday after hours of gunbattles between heavily armed militias killed seven people and terrorized the residents of Beirut.

The government called for a day of mourning following Thursday's armed clashes, in which gunmen used automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades on the streets of the capital, echoing the nation's darkest era of the 1975-90 civil war. The gunbattles raised the specter of a return to sectarian violence in a country already struggling through one of the world's worst economic crises of the past 150 years.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, deeply concerned over Thursday's bloodshed in Beirut, has called on all parties to halt the deadly violence, said his spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

"The United Nations calls on all concerned to immediately cease acts of violence and to refrain from any provocative actions or inflammatory rhetoric," Dujarric said.

Russia's Foreign Ministry on Friday called on all sides in Lebanon to "show restraint", adding that Moscow hoped the government of new Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati would be able to cope with a "dangerous and considerably difficult challenge".

Saudi Arabia hopes the situation stabilizes as soon as possible, its Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Iran condemned the killing of protesters, describing the shootings as seditious and backed by Israel, state-run Press TV said.

France and the United States also appealed for calm, but insisted on the need to allow the port explosion probe to continue unhindered.

The violence broke out at a protest organized by the two main Shiite parties－Hezbollah and the Amal Movement－calling for the removal of the lead judge investigating last year's massive explosion at Beirut port. Many of the protesters had been armed. It was not clear who fired the first shot, but the confrontation quickly devolved into heavy exchanges of gunfire along a former civil war frontline separating predominantly Muslim and Christian areas of Beirut.

Gunfire echoed for hours, and ambulances rushed to pick up casualties. Snipers shot from buildings. Bullets penetrated apartment windows in the area. Schools were evacuated and residents hid in shelters.

The two Shiite groups said their protesters came under fire from snipers on rooftops, accusing the Christian right-wing Lebanese Forces militia of starting the shooting. Among the dead－all Shiites－were two Hezbollah fighters.

On Friday, residents in the Tayouneh area of Beirut where most of the fighting played out, swept glass from the streets in front of shops and apartment buildings. Soldiers guarded the entrance to the battered neighborhood, and barbed wire was erected at street entrances. Many cars were damaged.

Tayouneh has a huge roundabout that separates Christian and Muslim neighborhoods. Newly pockmarked buildings sat next to ones scarred from the days of the civil war.

Hezbollah and Amal held funerals for their dead later on Friday.

Port blast probe

Tensions over the port blast have contributed to Lebanon's many troubles, including a currency collapse, hyperinflation, soaring poverty and an energy crisis leading to extended electricity blackouts.

The probe centers on hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate that were improperly stored at a port warehouse that detonated on Aug 4, 2020. The blast killed at least 215 people and injured thousands. It was one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history and further devastated the country already beset with political divisions.

Judge Tarek Bitar has charged and issued an arrest warrant for Lebanon's former finance minister, who is a senior member of the Amal Movement and a close ally of Hezbollah. Bitar also has charged three other former senior government officials with intentional killing and negligence that led to the blast.

Officials from both Shiite parties, Amal and Hezbollah, including Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, had attacked Bitar for days, accusing him of politicizing the investigation by charging and summoning some officials and not others.

None of Hezbollah's officials have so far been charged.

Agencies - Xinhua