Lebanese Army and Hezbollah Negotiates Surrender
Post Source: CNN News
...of Western Beirut Government Positions.
I'm surprised this isn't getting more play in the media. I suppose because main stream media is all too wraped up and giddy about the Democratic two horse primary race. A less than exciting race with one horse lame and falling back as they near the finish line.
BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) -- Western Beirut fell under the control of opposition Hezbollah militias Friday in what amounted to an army-negotiated surrender of pro-government positions, Lebanese Internal Security Forces and Western military observers said.
The "dramatic development" is a major blow to the democratically elected and pro-Western government of Lebanon, CNN's Brent Sadler said.
Soldiers went to several offices of pro-government political parties in western Beirut overnight, he said. They persuaded pro-government gunmen who had battled Hezbollah militants to leave the offices as the opposition forces hovered nearby, he said.
Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, part of the pro-government coalition, said the government was "now at the end of a gun barrel" and they expect the "conditions for surrender will be offered sooner or later," Sadler reported.
"I think ... it's a coup," Jumblatt told CNN in a phone interview. "The Lebanese army is in total paralysis."
Rather than fight, the army has stayed above the fray. With its own political factions, taking sides could throw the military into disarray.
With pro-government gunmen out of the way, the fighting in the capital eased at bit Friday after intense gun battles the previous two days echoed through Beirut's streets.
The "dramatic development" is a major blow to the democratically elected and pro-Western government of Lebanon, CNN's Brent Sadler said.
Soldiers went to several offices of pro-government political parties in western Beirut overnight, he said. They persuaded pro-government gunmen who had battled Hezbollah militants to leave the offices as the opposition forces hovered nearby, he said.
Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, part of the pro-government coalition, said the government was "now at the end of a gun barrel" and they expect the "conditions for surrender will be offered sooner or later," Sadler reported.
"I think ... it's a coup," Jumblatt told CNN in a phone interview. "The Lebanese army is in total paralysis."
Rather than fight, the army has stayed above the fray. With its own political factions, taking sides could throw the military into disarray.
With pro-government gunmen out of the way, the fighting in the capital eased at bit Friday after intense gun battles the previous two days echoed through Beirut's streets.
Read the rest at CNN.