Beirut: Six Shiites shot dead Beirut Attack on supporters on Thursday hezbollah and an allied Lebanese party that gathered to demand the removal of a judge probing last year’s devastating port explosion.
The shooting, which took place on the front lines of Lebanon’s 1975–90 civil war and scenes reminiscent of the conflict, marks the deadliest civilian violence in Beirut since 2008. It also highlights the deepening crisis over the investigation into the August 2020 eruption. Undermining government efforts to deal with the economic slowdown.
Iran-backed Hezbollah and its ally, the Shia Amal Movement, accused the Lebanese Forces (LF), a Christian party with close ties to Saudi Arabia, of escalating the attack. interior Minister basam cleric Said snipers opened fire and hit people on the head. The LF denied any involvement and condemned the violence, which it blamed on Hezbollah for “incitement” against Tarek Bitter, the principal investigator of the port explosion that killed 200 people.
Following Hezbollah’s repeated warnings that continuing the Bitter investigation would leave the country divided, the violence could serve as an excuse to call off further investigations into the blast or to proceed. President Michel Aoun vowed that those responsible for Thursday’s gunfire would be held accountable.
During the attack, local television stations broadcast footage of shots fired at buildings and people running for cover. A military source said that among the dead was a woman who was shot dead in her house. A Reuters eyewitness said that at a nearby school, teachers instructed newborns to lie on the ground with their hands on their heads. In one footage, passersby dragged a lifeless body off the road. The army said in a statement that bullets hit the protesters as they were passing through Teyouneh The traffic circle is located in the area dividing Christian and Shia Muslim neighbourhoods. Shooting began in Christian neighborhood ain al-remmaneh, where the civil war broke out.
The shooting, which took place on the front lines of Lebanon’s 1975–90 civil war and scenes reminiscent of the conflict, marks the deadliest civilian violence in Beirut since 2008. It also highlights the deepening crisis over the investigation into the August 2020 eruption. Undermining government efforts to deal with the economic slowdown.
Iran-backed Hezbollah and its ally, the Shia Amal Movement, accused the Lebanese Forces (LF), a Christian party with close ties to Saudi Arabia, of escalating the attack. interior Minister basam cleric Said snipers opened fire and hit people on the head. The LF denied any involvement and condemned the violence, which it blamed on Hezbollah for “incitement” against Tarek Bitter, the principal investigator of the port explosion that killed 200 people.
Following Hezbollah’s repeated warnings that continuing the Bitter investigation would leave the country divided, the violence could serve as an excuse to call off further investigations into the blast or to proceed. President Michel Aoun vowed that those responsible for Thursday’s gunfire would be held accountable.
During the attack, local television stations broadcast footage of shots fired at buildings and people running for cover. A military source said that among the dead was a woman who was shot dead in her house. A Reuters eyewitness said that at a nearby school, teachers instructed newborns to lie on the ground with their hands on their heads. In one footage, passersby dragged a lifeless body off the road. The army said in a statement that bullets hit the protesters as they were passing through Teyouneh The traffic circle is located in the area dividing Christian and Shia Muslim neighbourhoods. Shooting began in Christian neighborhood ain al-remmaneh, where the civil war broke out.
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