Lebanese security forces deployed in central Beirut yesterday and several schools closed in response to tensions surrounding a draft indictment issued over the 2005 killing of former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri.
Groups of men gathered in the early morning in several places across the capital, alarming Sunni Muslim residents who said they were supporters of Hezbollah or its Shiite ally Amal.
In May 2008, armed supporters of Hezbollah took over parts of Beirut after government steps to shut down its private telecommunications network and curb its control at the airport. Dozens of people were killed in fighting across the country.
Last week Hezbollah ministers and their allies toppled the government of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, son of the slain Sunni leader, after he refused to cut Lebanon’s ties with the UN-backed tribunal investigating his father’s killing.
The tribunal prosecutor issued a draft indictment on Monday. Its contents were not revealed and may not become public for weeks while Belgian judge Daniel Fransen decides whether there is enough evidence for a trial.
However, the indictment is expected to accuse members of Hezbollah, which denies any role in the assassination and had accused the tribunal of being an “Israeli tool.”
Shiite Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri told As-Safir newspaper that the opposition had said that its policy would change once the indictment was issued, and that policy “has entered the stage of implementation as of yesterday afternoon.”
The appearance of dozens of men across the capital raised fears of a repeat of the conflict in 2008.
“I got a call from my mother to come home immediately because the situation is bad, and there are people on the streets,” university student Mira Noureddine said. “We are worried the situation could get worse.”
Lebanonese Education Minister Hassan Mneimneh said schools would remain open. “Despite the gatherings of youths we have seen briefly on the streets this morning, schools are continuing their normal operation,” he said.
However, Heba Nashabe, principal at a school in the Barbir district, said she had only four students out of 1,800 yesterday.
Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama called the indictment by the UN tribunal an important step toward achieving justice for the people of Lebanon. He urged all Lebanese leaders and factions to preserve calm.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
IN PURSUIT: Israel’s defense minister said the revenge attacks by Israeli settlers would make it difficult for security forces to find those responsible for the 14-year-old’s death Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned the “heinous murder” of an Israeli teenager in the occupied West Bank as attacks on Palestinian villages intensified following news of his death. After Benjamin Achimeir, 14, was reported missing near Ramallah on Friday, hundreds of Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching vehicles and homes, leaving at least one villager dead and dozens wounded. The attacks escalated in several villages on Saturday after Achimeir’s body was found near the Malachi Hashalom outpost. Agence France-Presse correspondents saw smoke rising from burned houses and fields. Mayor Amin Abu Alyah, of the