18 September 2008

BEIRUT: Tensions soared in Lebanon on Wednesday after two people were killed and three others wounded in clashes between the Lebanese Forces and the Marada Movement in the Northern province of Koura. Lebanese Forces (LF) supporter Pierre Ishaq and Marada's Youssef Franjieh were killed in the violence in Bsarma, a village some 10 kilometers from the port city of Tripoli.

A security official said the clashes broke out after Marada members tried to prevent a banner from being put up for a ceremony September 21 to be held by the Lebanese Forces.

"The Lebanese Forces had put up the banner the day before and it was taken down and they came back overnight to display it again," the official said.

The Lebanese Army immediately intervened and set up checkpoints in the area.

Marada Movement leader Suleiman Franjieh on Wednesday urged authorities to bring the perpetrators of the Bsarma attack to justice within a month.

"I give the government and judicial authorities a 15-day-to-one-month ultimatum to reveal the truth behind the shooting incident in Bsarma," Franjieh told a news conference.

The Marada leader singled out LF MP Farid Habib as being responsible for the killing of Youssef Franjieh, who headed the Marada office in Bsarma.

Franjieh said that a member of Habib's security personnel had opened fire during the fight, killing both Youssef Franjieh and Ishaq.

"Is it normal for LF supporters to erect posters outside the Marada office in Bsarma?" he asked. "In fact, the clash was not a random one ... They stirred a fight to create a distraction, but their real aim was to kill Youssef."

"What a coincidence that Youssef Franjieh was killed in the shooting attack, only two months after he announced on OTV [Orange television] that he had opened fire on LF chief Samir Geagea during the Ehden massacre," he added, referring to the killing of Toni Franjieh, Suleiman's father, and dozens of family members in a raid on his residence in Ehden in 1978.

The killing was blamed on the Lebanese Phalange Party, for which Geagea was still a fighter at that time. Geagea was a member of the "military squad" which was ordered to carry out the operation, but he was allegedly wounded before he reached Franjieh's residence.

However, Marada sources maintain that Geagea was shot in front of the house.

Later on Wednesday, Geagea accused Franjieh of threatening Habib, describing the Marada leader's remarks as "irresponsible and unacceptable."

Habib said on Wednesday that "Franjieh's threats against me should be dealt with by the concerned judicial authorities."

Geagea offered his condolences to the families of both Ishaq and Franjieh and said that issuing accusations ahead of investigations was "improper."

The LF boss rejected the Marada leader's claim that Franjieh's death was premeditated.

"As far as I know, Youssef Franjieh is in charge of Suleiman Franjieh's security at his residence in Bnashei ... The question is: Why was he dispatched from Bnashei to Bsarma where the shooting took place?" Geagea asked.

The LF leader added that he had asked the security and armed forces to take all the necessary measures to ban arms as well as political gatherings in the North in a bid to avoid further escalation.

Also on Wednesday, March 14 MPs Nayla Mouawad and Jawad Boulos expressed "regret" for the Bsarma clash, calling for "relentless efforts to contain this accident and its repercussions."

"We urge the security and armed forces and the judiciary to speed up the investigation into the Bsarma incident," the two MPs said in a statement.

The Defense Ministry meanwhile ordered an indefinite ban on gun permits starting Wednesday, with the exception of weapons carried by the bodyguards of diplomats, Cabinet ministers and lawmakers.

The order was made after President Michel Sleiman headed a meeting of the Central Security Council at the Presidential Palace. The meeting was attended by the commander of Lebanese Armed Forces, General Jean Kahwaji, the head of military intelligence, Brigadier General Edmond Fadel, and Internal Security Forces director General Ashraf Rifi.

Interior Minister Ziyad Baroud also headed another Central Security Council meeting at the Interior Ministry.

In a separate development on Wednesday, unknown assailants threw a grenade at a Lebanese Army base in the Bekaa town of Chtoura.

Security sources told The Daily Star that the resulting explosion had caused a number of injuries, though it was not clear whether the wounded were soldiers or civilians.

The latest violence came after a string of security incidents across Lebanon that have raised fears of a return to the sectarian violence that left 65 people dead in May. It also broke out a day after rival Lebanese factions launched reconciliation talks aimed at resolving their differences. - With AFP

Copyright The Daily Star 2008.