Senior Hezbollah member killed in Beirut clashes

24 Aug 2010 22:06:18 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Calm returns to the streets

* Two groups say no political motives behind clashes

(Adds clashes end, statements by groups, background)

By Mariam Karouny

BEIRUT, Aug 24 (Reuters) - Two Lebanese men, including a senior member of Hezbollah, were killed in Beirut on Tuesday in clashes between supporters of the Shi'ite militant group and a Sunni faction, security sources said.

They said the clashes were sparked by a fight between a supporter of Hezbollah and another from the Sunni al-Ahbash group in the neighbourhood of Burj Abi Haidar. It then escalated into clashes with machine guns and rocket propelled grenades.

"The toll now is two killed," one source said. "One of them is Mohammad Fawaz who is in charge of Burj Abi Haidar sector".

An al-Ahbash official said the other casualty was a supporter of the Sunni faction.

The clashes ended after the army deployed in the area.

The two groups said in a joint statement that there was "no political or sectarian background" behind the clashes. "(We) stress that this was an individual unfortunate incident".

The clashes reflected Lebanon's fragile security situation and increased sectarian tension.

Sunnis form one of Lebanon's main communities, along with Shi'ites and Christians. Sectarian tension ran high after the assassination in 2005 of former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri, the Sunni's acknowledged national leader.

In 2008 a political crisis led to street fighting between Hezbollah and supporters of Hariri, in a brief echo of Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.

Tension re-ignited last month after Hezbollah strongly criticised a U.N. tribunal investigating the killing of Hariri and said that the prosecutor's first indictment, expected to be issued in September or October, will blame some of its members.

Hezbollah denies any link to the 2005 killing.

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Lebanon tribunal asks Hezbollah for more evidence
25 Aug 2010 08:30:40 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Says DVDs given limited to footage from news conference

* Possibility of Hezbollah indictments has raised tension

BEIRUT, Aug 25 (Reuters) - A U.N. prosecutor investigating the assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri has urged Hezbollah to hand over more of the information that Hezbollah says implicates Israel.

Two weeks ago the militant Shi'ite group unveiled what it said was Israeli aerial surveillance of routes taken by Hariri's motorcade before the 2005 bombing that killed him and 22 others.

The group then gave a dossier to Lebanese prosecutors, which was passed to the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

The dossier contained six DVDs, U.N. prosecutor Daniel Bellemare's office said in a statement, but was restricted to the footage shown by Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah at a news conference on Aug. 9.

Nasrallah said at the time that if there was to be a "serious investigation", he could also provide the court with evidence that an Israeli agent had surveyed the site of Hariri's killing a day before the attack.

"The preliminary assessment of the DVDs has determined that the response is incomplete, since the material that was handed over is limited to the material shown during the ... press conference and does not contain the 'rest of the evidence' that Mr Hassan Nasrallah referred to," Bellemare's office said.

There was no immediate response from Hezbollah. Nasrallah has repeatedly condemned the U.N. investigation, which he said last month was set to indict Hezbollah members over Hariri's killing. Nasrallah has denied any Hezbollah involvement.

In a speech on Tuesday night, he said the fact that Hezbollah had given evidence to Lebanese authorities, who transferred it to Bellemare's office the same day, did not mean Hezbollah was assisting the investigation.

The possibility of Hezbollah indictments has raised political tensions in Lebanon, where the group forms part of a fragile unity government led by Hariri's son Saad, who has backed the U.N. investigation.

Media reports had suggested the indictments could be announced in September or October, though Hezbollah's dossier could delay Bellemare's plans.

His office said no indictment would be issued "until the prosecutor is satisfied that, in light of all the circumstances, it is based on solid and convincing evidence". (Editing by Kevin Liffey)