Hezbollah controls west Beirut

Source: CCTV.com | 05-10-2008 09:47

Hezbollah gunmen have seized nearly all of West Beirut on the third day of a violent campaign against supporters of the pro-Western government. The governing coalition have described the seizure as "an armed and bloody coup".

At least 14 people have been killed and more than 20 wounded in three days of street battles in West Beirut between the Hezbollah fighters and gunmen loyal to the government.

Three more people were killed in two separate incidents on Friday after the Hezbollah takeover.

The satellite TV station affiliated with the party of Lebanon's top Sunni lawmaker, Saad al-Hariri, was forced off the air.

Gunmen set fire to the offices of the party's newspaper, Al-Mustaqbal, in the coastal neighborhood of Ramlet el-Bayda.

Later in the afternoon, gunmen also attacked and set on fire a two-story building where Hariri's Future TV have their archives.

The unrest virtually shut down Lebanon's international airport and closed many major highways.

The seaport also was closed, leaving one land route to Syria as Lebanon's only link to the outside world.

Hariri and Druse leader Walid Jumblatt were besieged in their West Beirut residences. Prime Minister Fouad Seniora and several ministers were holed up in his downtown office, surrounded by troops and police.

Pro-government majority officials held an emergency meeting in a mountain town in the Christian heartland northeast of Beirut.

Afterwards, they issued a statement calling on the army to take control of the streets and urging Arab and international intervention to pressure the countries that support Hezbollah.

Pro-government leader Samir Geagea said the Hezbollah takeover violates the constitution which governs Christian-Muslim coexistence in Lebanon.

Arab foreign ministers have called an emergency meeting for Sunday in Cairo to discuss the crisis.

The fighting was triggered after the government took decisions targeting Hezbollah's military communications network. The group said the government had declared war.

Editor:Liu Fang