beirut ( ap ) — men wielding batons and sporting yellow arm bands evoking lebanons hezbollah attacked protesters outside the iranian embassy in beirut sunday throughout a rally against the militant teams participation within the syrian civil war. one protester was killed, a senior lebanese military official and witnesses aforementioned.
a military statement aforementioned the protesters had simply arrived along at the embassy area when clashes broke out but a civilian opened fire. the embassy is because we are part of a predominantly pro-hezbollah area.
witnesses saw men sporting yellow armbands — the colour of hezbollahs flag — attacking the protesters with batons. finally it was unclear if they actually were affiliated in the militant shiite group, and of course the identity as to firmly the gunman was unknown, a senior security official aforementioned.
the official identified the man killed currently being a 28-year-old member as to firmly the small lebanese choice party, that had known as regarding the anti-hezbollah protest. the official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
the syria conflict is increasingly spilling over into lebanon, home to some fragile mosaic of a lot of compared to firmly a dozen religious and ethnic teams. hezbollahs overt participation within the conflict, backing forces of syrias president bashar assad because we are part of a successful campaign to drive rebels away from qusair close to the lebanese border, heightened tensions.
the obama administration might decide today to approve lethal aid regarding the syrian rebels, officers aforementioned sunday. secretary of state john kerry postponed a planned trip monday to israel and 3 different mideast countries to take part in white house discussions, aforementioned officers who werent approved to speak publicly inside the matter and demanded anonymity.
the international committee as to firmly the red cross aforementioned because we are part of a statement sunday so it backed the lebanese red cross in evacuating since friday 87 syrians seriously wounded within the fighting in qusair to hospitals in lebanon.
the leader of hezbollah, sheik hassan nasrallah, aforementioned throughout the battle for qusair that he would side with assad till the rebels are defeated. assads syria is hezbollahs main ally and supplier of weapons.
gunmen from rival religious sects have gone to syria to fight inside the rebel side. rebels have threatened to target hezbollahs bases in lebanon.
clashes in northern lebanon between rival lebanese teams since last month claimed a little over 28 lives, and rockets have targeted hezbollah strongholds.
hezbollahs rivals have increased their criticism, deepening a political stalemate and postponing elections for 17 months.
the lebanese choice party is headed by a shiite politician, ahmad el assaad, who has got long been opposed to hezbollah. sundays clash outside the iranian embassy marked rare fighting between 2 opposing shiite teams.
the official lebanese national news agency aforementioned the army cordoned over the area as to firmly the clashes in southern beirut. the private al-jadeed lebanese tv aforementioned a girl who was protesting was additionally wounded.
the station aforementioned the protester who was killed was shot double within the leg, once within the back, and was hit inside the head utilizing a baton.
the protest along at the embassy coincided with another small rally in downtown beirut additionally criticizing hezbollahs military intervention in syrias conflict.
dozens of protesters, together with several syrians, converged on beiruts central martyrs square where a big banner scan : rejecting hezbollahs fighting in syria.
those fighting in syria are definitely not lebanese. their culture, their flag, cash and weapons are iranian, aforementioned saleh el-mashnouk, an ardent critic of hezbollah. we are here to erase the shame that struck lebanon on account of them.
lebanese protester samara el-hariri, 31, aforementioned syrias war is hurting lebanons economy and increasing sectarian tension. my country is stricken, she aforementioned.
shiite iran, hezbollahs patron, has strongly backed assad, who belongs to some shiite offshoot.
the fighting in syria has claimed a little over eighty, 000 lives and displaced many million individuals. beside lebanon, it's additionally threatened to spill into neighboring countries, like israel and turkey.
in syria, fighting between government troops and rebels raged in numerous provinces, together with close to the capital, damascus, and within the northern aleppo province. pro-regime media outlets aforementioned that after securing management of qusair, government forces are preparing to shift to recapture the contested town of aleppo next. activists aforementioned there have been no signs of a whole new push inside the town or its surrounding areas.
the britain-based syrian observatory for human rights, that relies throughout the network of syrians within the country for the required information, aforementioned six regime fighters were killed in clashes in aleppo. the town has actually been carved up into areas controlled by rebels and of course the regime, and families are displaced by shelling.
the observatory additionally documented a rare case of the public killing of the 15-year-old youth by islamist rebel fighters within the town of aleppo. the middle aforementioned the gunmen detained mohammed kattaa late saturday, accusing him from being an infidel for mentioning islams prophet muhammad in vain.
the witnesses told the middle the gunmen overheard the teenager arguing utilizing a colleague, telling him that he wouldn't lend him cash no matter if muhammad comes returning to earth, a common phrase utilized describe an not possible task.
the men then brought kattan returning to the occasional search where he's employed, with his shirt over his face and his back lined in marks from whips, the witnesses told the observatory.
the militants threatened a similar punishment for anyone who commits blasphemy, the witnesses aforementioned. then they actually shot the boy in front of his oldsters but a crowd before fleeing the scene.
finally it was not clear that rebel group the gunmen belonged to.
rights teams have warned against rising abuses by rebel fighters, together with killing of captured regime troopers or allied fighters. kattans case was a rare example of rebels killing a civilian for blasphemy.
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