Hezbollah, Pro-Iranian Forces Attempting Coup in Beirut
By Julie Stahl
CNSNews.com Jerusalem Bureau Chief
May 09, 2008

Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - Hezbollah and pro-Iranian, pro-Syrian Lebanese forces attempted to overthrow the pro-Western government of Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora on Friday.

At least 11 people have been killed and 20 wounded so far in sectarian fighting that erupted in Beirut, the Associated Press reported.

Shiite Hezbollah gunmen seized control of several Beirut neighborhoods from Sunnis loyal to the government. A Sunni television station was knocked off the air, and opposition forces also set fire to Sunni newspaper offices.

For more than a year, Hezbollah and its allies have been trying to gain a controlling share in Lebanon's pro-Democracy government. They're even accused of assassinating government ministers in their attempt to change the balance of power.

Washington has charged that Iran, Syria and Hezbollah are trying to bring about the collapse of the legitimate Lebanese government.

The most recent round of trouble started when government forces tried to crack down on Hezbollah by cutting off its telecommunications network. Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah called the move a "declaration of war."

Saad Hariri, a leader in the pro-Western government, said the government's moves had been misunderstood and called for Hebollah gunmen to withdraw. He also requested a meeting with Nasrallah.

Lebanese Minister of Telecommunications Marwan Hamade said that his country was not collapsing into a civil war but into a "militia coup launched by pro-Iranian militias."

Those militias are transforming Lebanon "into a beachhead of Iran on the Mediterranean Sea," Hamade said in a television interview with France24 television. Hamade said his country gradually is being taken over "by the fundamentalists of Iran." He added that he was "astonished with the silence of the international community."

Hamade said that Hezbollah has the military might to "go all the way" because it has been arming itself under of the guise of preparing to fight Israel.

Pro-government forces are still in control of part of the country, but whether they can maintain control depends on what help they received from outside, Hamade said.

Earlier this week, the Saudi-owned daily al-Sharq al-Awsat mentioned an official Lebanese government report charging that Iran was setting up an illegal telecommunications network throughout Lebanon.

Hamadeh was quoted in that paper as saying that Hezbollah was trying to link militias in Lebanon, Syria and Iran through a telecommunications network, capable of eavesdropping on phones throughout the country.

"Their goal is not security resistance. They want to connect between all the Iranian and Syrian militias and they want to eavesdrop on everyone," Hamadeh was quoted as saying.

In the television interview, he said the network was also attempting to connect missile batteries.

Lebanon was engaged in a bloody civil war from 1975-1990. The United Nations Security Council has called for an end to the current fighting.

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