2008 Lebanon conflict

On December 1, 2006, a series of protests and sit-ins began in Lebanon, led by the March 8 political coalition which opposed the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. Formed after the Cedar Revolution in 2005, the March 8 coalition was made up of the Shiite Hezbollah and Amal, the Christian Free Patriotic Movement and a number of smaller parties such as the SSNP, LDP and the Arab Democratic Party. On the other side of the political divide stood the March 14 coalition, at the time holding the majority of cabinet and parliamentary seats. The March 14 coalition was made up of the primarily Sunni Future Movement and a number of smaller parties including the Druze Progressive Socialist Party and the Christian Lebanese Forces. At the core of commencement of the protests was the unhappiness of Hezbollah with the division of power under the current status quo and the pro-Western course of the Lebanese government. It argued that too much executive power was in the hands of the Future Movement, the primary political party of March 14, which it in their view misused by too closely aligned with Western states, most notably the United States, thereby compromising Lebanon's sovereignty and security. Hezbollah was the only organization allowed to retain its weapons after the ratification of the Taif Agreement, which brought an end to the Lebanese Civil War, although UN Security Council Resolution 1559 of September 2004 denied the organization the right to retain its arms. After Shi'a ministers of Hezbollah and Amal had resigned from the cabinet in December 2006 in protest against a decision concerning the Lebanon Tribunal, the opposition demanded the immediate resignation of the cabinet as it now was unbalanced with regard to the proportional representation of religious groups as stipulated by the Lebanese Constitution and therefore was deemed illegitimate. When Prime Minister Siniora refused to resign his cabinet, Hezbollah and its allies on March 8 called on its supporters in early December 2006 to protest against the perceived illegitimacy of the cabinet of Siniora to increase pressure on it. In the face of massive protests, Siniora and the remaining ministers in his cabinet still refused to step down as long as they enjoyed the support of the majority of the parliament. With Siniora not giving in, the opposition organized a general strike in January 2007, which ended in sectarian clashes leaving multiple dead and hundreds wounded. == May 2008 controversies==

In May 2008, the tensions between the pro-government and opposition parties escalated when the cabinet announced a series of security decisions. Tensions began with revelations on Friday May 2 made by Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt, a key politician in the ruling March 14 alliance. He announced that a remote-controlled camera had been set up in a container park overlooking Beirut international airport's runway 17, which was frequently being used by March 14 politicians. In March 14 circles, fear was that the monitoring could be used for a possible attack on its leaders, as Lebanon had faced a series of political assassinations in recent times. Although Jumblatt did not accuse the party directly, he made clear that he thought March 8's Hezbollah was behind the monitoring system's installment. These moves severely antagonized Hezbollah, bringing tensions between the March 8 and March 14 coalitions to a boiling point. == Armed clashes ==

May 7: Protests and minor clashes Coincidentally, a day after the cabinet's decision, on Wednesday May 7, the Lebanese General Workers Union had planned a general strike to demand higher wages and decry high consumer prices. The strike turned violent as the opposition threw their weight behind the strike, paralyzing large parts of Lebanon's capital Beirut. Instigated by the recent developments and the strike, pro-government and opposition supporters took the streets coming into conflict with each other at multiple places. Clashes were first reported when government and opposition supporters in a pro-government sector of Beirut exchanged insults and began throwing stones at each other after Hezbollah supporters insisted on blocking the roads. Witnesses said security forces intervened and gunshots were heard, apparently troops firing in the air to disperse the crowds. In the afternoon, verbal violence and stone throwing turned into more violent clashes, with gunfire sporadically going off in the city. Around the city, armed opposition supporters blocked roads including the strategic road towards Beirut international airport, cutting it off from the rest of the city, and roads to the city's sea port. He referred to the cabinet's decisions of that week as "despotic" and having inaugurated a new phase in Lebanese history, similar to the assassination of former prime minister Rafic Hariri in 2005. Combat was also heard near the office of Lebanon's Sunni religious leader - an ally of the government - and the palatial compound of the Hariri family in Koreitem was hit by RPG fire. Faced with large-scale inter-communal violence erupting all over the city, the Lebanese Armed Forces decided not to intervene in the clashes for fear of sparking divisions in the army along sectarian lines, as had happened during the civil war. Other factors that as to why the army did not act in line with the cabinet are, according to political scientist Aram Nerguizian, the apprehension among army commanders at how the cabinet chose to address the issue of Hezbollah's telecommunication network. Secondly, the perception among them that cabinet also did not sufficiently consult the army prior to their decision to dismiss Beirut's airport head of security. All of the officers except one later repealed their resignation however. Media outlets related to the pro-government Future Movement, amongst which Future TV, Al Mustaqbal Newspaper, Future News, Radio Orient and Future-owned Armenian radio station Sevan had been raided by opposition fighters and forced to close. Future TV and Al Mustaqbal were particularly targeted by opposition fighters. RPG missiles were launched from empty adjacent buildings under construction to Mustaqbal's offices, setting fire to two floors. Future TV offices were raided by Hezbollah members who subsequently cut all of its broadcasts. The opposition had now firmly moved in and taken over abandoned positions of pro-government fighters, seizing large parts of the capital's western neighbourhoods. The Lebanese Army also stepped in to take over position deserted by pro-government militiamen and in some instance were handed over control of recently conquered position by Hezbollah. On May 10, 2008, a funeral procession was attacked by a shop-owner affiliated with the Amal Movement, whose shop was previously burned down by Sunni militants, leaving six people dead. An Associated Press photographer who witnessed the shooting said the attack came as a procession of 200 people headed toward a nearby cemetery to bury a 24-year-old pro-government supporter killed in previous fighting. At least 14 people were killed in the town of Halba, in the Akkar region of north Lebanon, as about 100 pro-Future Movement gunmen attacked an office of the SSNP. 10 of the dead were SSNP members, three were government loyalists and one was an Australian citizen of Lebanese descent on vacation in Lebanon, who was trying to get information at the SSNP offices about evacuating from the city. The Australian father of four, Fadi Sheikh, reportedly had his hands and feet cut off. The SSNP says Fadi Sheikh was a member of the party - but was not a militant. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. One other person was killed in fighting in Sidon and two soldiers died in fighting east of Beirut. Heavy fighting had also broken out between Alawite Hezbollah sympathizers and Sunni supporters of the government in the neighbourhoods of Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh, two neighbourhoods in Tripoli notorious for its sectarian violence, leading thousands to flee their homes. Faced with the escalated situation as a result of the cabinet's decisions, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora announced on May 10 that the cabinet would handover the issue of telecommunication network to the army and, in addition, announced the reinstatement of the head of security of Beirut's international airport. Subsequently, the Lebanese army took a more active stance in the events and announced it had frozen the measures taken by the government and called for all armed militants to withdraw from the streets. In response, Hezbollah announced that it would withdraw its fighters together with other opposition fighters from West Beirut in compliance with the Lebanese army's request, but that a civil disobedience campaign will continue until the group's political demands are met. Battle of Mount Barook and Aley District On May 9, heavy fighting broke out in Mount Lebanon between pro-government Progressive Socialist Party fighters and Hezbollah. The clashes started in Aytat, near Kaifun and soon expanded to cover many spots in Mount Lebanon including the cities of Baisour, Choueifat and Aley. Most of the fighting was concentrated on Hill 888. Fighting started when four Druze members of the Aley municipal police were kidnapped by Hezbollah. Artillery and mortars were used for the first time during these battles. A ceasefire agreement was supposed to take place at 18:00 of the same day, but fighters from both sides continued to exchange fire. Negotiations were ongoing for the PSP members to give up the fight and surrender their positions to the Lebanese Army, but it never happened. The battles at Aley stopped for several hours, but the two sides clashed again in Mount Barouk to the southeast shortly before midnight. Barook separates the Druze heartland of Shouf from the mainly Shi'ite southern end of the Bekaa Valley. That night Hezbollah's fighters deployed from southern Beirut to the Qmatiye area tried to attack the hills near Aley but they were beaten back. After that Hezbollah tried to go on the offensive again and attacked their rival's positions. The Druze fighters had fought the Hezbollah militants from dug-in positions left over from the 1975–90 Civil War. The Druze used hunting guns, AK 47s and other machine guns, RPGs and allegedly even 23mm anti-aircraft guns to blast at the advancing Hezbollah fighters. Hezbollah bombarded the pro-government Druze area with artillery while ground forces attacked Druze positions using rockets and machine guns. By morning, the Druze fighters agreed to cease hostilities and several villages loyal to Lebanon's pro-government Druze leader Walid Jumblatt had been handed over to the army. Clashes in Hamra and Tripoli After a day of relative quiet in Beirut renewed gunfire was heard in the commercial area of Hamra in the western part of the city shortly after midnight on May 12. The fighting occurred near the home of Future Movement leader Saad al-Hariri. A two-man Al Jazeera camera crew suffered injuries while trying to film the fighting and were evacuated by the Lebanese army. Meanwhile, in Tripoli, clashes left one person dead and at least six others wounded. The next days saw only limited and sporadic fighting. == Resolution process ==

Arab League intervention As fighting was spreading to other parts of Lebanon, the Arab League, which had been involved as a mediator in Lebanese political crises since 2005, decided to intervene in Lebanon at an emergency meeting on May 11. The accord stipulated (1) the immediate election of Army Commander Michel Suleiman as president; (2) the formation of a national unity government with a blocking third for the opposition; (3) adaption of the electoral law aimed at redistricting based on the 1960 electoral law; (4) a commitment by the signatories not to resort to violence for political gains; (5) initiation of a national dialogue on the promotion of Lebanon's internal sovereignty and (6) a commitment by signatories to abstain from resorting to rhetoric of treason or political and sectarian incitement. The accord was considered a victory for the Lebanese opposition as they secured their key demands for veto-wielding power in the new government and a new electoral law which could benefit the opposition in the upcoming 2009 parliamentary elections. In addition, it increased the distrust and fear of it among other political parties and heightened domestic opposition to its armed status as a result of the use of its weapons against other Lebanese actors, despite its earlier pledge not to do so. == Reactions to the fighting ==

Sean McCormack discussing the unrest in Lebanon Domestic reactions Many March 14 leaders decried the events as a coup, pointed towards the Hezbollah's intricate relationship to the Iranian government and assigned a role played in the events to the latter. Hani Hammoud, a senior adviser to Saad Hariri referred to the events as a "one-sided civil war" with the result that "Iran has taken over the country" Christian leaders Samir Geagea and Amine Gemayel also accused Hezbollah of staging a coup, with the former calling on moderate forces in the Arab world to intervene and asked the international community not to stand idly by. A leaked US diplomatic cable also showed how on May 11, Gemayel, together with Social Affairs Minister Nayla Mouawad and Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh urged the US to provide more support to the March 14 coalition. Believing that a Hezbollah victory could be imminent, they proposed several ideas, including extending UN Security Council Resolution 1701 to Beirut's airport, sea port and access roads, an imposement of an air ban against Syria by the US and immediate US military aid to their own militias. PSP leader Walid Jumblatt stated that he still stood behind his support for the government's decisions that week, however he acknowledged that he had underestimated the response from Hezbollah. Michel Aoun, leader of the Free Patriotic Movement and a Hezbollah ally whose supporters did not participate in the fighting, spoke in more neutral terms, calling for the return for normality on the streets. In addition, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pronounced the continuing support by the US for the Lebanese government. A leaked diplomatic cable shows, however, that Prince Saud al-Faisal had proposed to the US Ambassador in Saudi Arabia the creation of an "Arab force" to be supported by the US and NATO which was to restore order in Beirut in response to "Hezbollah's military challenge to the Government of Lebanon." Furthermore, he feared that a Hezbollah victory would lead to the fall of the Siniora cabinet and the "Iranian takeover of Lebanon." Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini has called on national unity among the Lebanese adding that the situation can be "managed through talks and consensus-building." Hosseini blamed the U.S. and Israel for the ongoing hostilities in Lebanon. == Casualties ==

The exact total number of casualties as resulting from the fighting in May remains uncertain, but figures range from approximately 70 to 110 deaths. A UN report published in June 2008 reports 69 fatalities, among which civilians, and more than 180 wounded. A Human Rights Watch Report from 2009 states a minimum of 71 deaths. In an article from September 2008 entailing a series of interviews on the events, Beatriz Martínez and Francesco Volpicella note that the official number of casualties up to 15 May is 80 deaths and more than 200 wounded. ==See also==