Sporadic Deadly Clashes in Tripoli, Efforts Ongoing to Preserve Security

Sunday, 13 May 2012

Sporadic Deadly Clashes in Tripoli, Efforts Ongoing to Preserve Security

Feltman Pledges Hezbollah Defeat
in 2013 Parliamentary Campaign

Sporadic Deadly Clashes in Tripoli, Efforts Ongoing to Preserve Security

Clashes continued intermittently in the city of Tripoli in northern Lebanon on Sunday between the areas of Jabal Mohsen and Bab Al-Tabbaneh leaving at least four people dead, including a Lebanese army soldier, and 25 wounded, most of them civilians.

The Higher Defense Council held an emergency meeting afternoon and discussed the security situation in Tripoli. The council lauded the security forces' role in preserving security stressed the importance of providing the urgent needs of the army and security forces to enable them to perform their duties and decided to keep its resolutions confidential in line with procedures, its spokesman announced after the meeting.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati held meetings with political, military and religious figures in Tripoli at his residence in Tripoli and said that Tripoli’s security was a red line, the National News Agency reported.

“There will be no political cover for anyone playing with security. This is what we agreed on with all political parties. We will take important measures in the next coming hours," Miqati added.

Concerning the arrest of Shadi Al-Mawlawi, the PM said: "Personally, I am against the manner in which he was detained. As for the charges brought against him, I leave it for the judiciary to decide. I do not want to interfere in the judiciary’s work."

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt contacted President Michel Suleiman, Miqati, security agencies' chiefs and Hezbollah, calling for a "political solution that spares the army a confrontation in Tripoli and keeps it away from political disputes, in order to preserve its role in protecting civil peace."

In the meantime, Tripoli’s Sunni Mufti Sheikh Malek Chaar said the Islamists’ protest in Abdel Hamid Karami Square will end later on Sunday and that citizens will return home “within few hours after Miqati promised to [address] their demands.”

However, Al-Nour Square protesters announced that they will form their own "revolutionary council", which will have no ties with the clerics, to protest being barred from the meetings that were held in Tripoli, and they have not ended their sit-in until now, according to Al-Manar TV.

According to a statement from the Lebanese security services, Shadi al-Mawlawi was arrested as part of an "investigation into his ties to a terrorist organization."

Source: Al-Manar Website
13-05-2012 - 20:50 Last updated 13-05-2012 - 20:50

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian