Lebanon reaches out for international help
Shaken by a Hezbollah military offensive in recent days, Lebanon's pro-Western parties have launched an intensive campaign to lobby allies in Washington, Europe and the Arab world to intervene diplomatically or even militarily on their behalf, officials here said.
But there was little sign Monday that the West was prepared to intervene.
Six days of fighting had left at least 58 dead and 198 injured, and unsettled the delicate political and sectarian balance in one of Lebanon's worst outbreaks of unrest since the 1975-90 civil war.
The ruling political coalition was dealt a major blow late last week when gunmen with Hezbollah, the Iranian- and Syrian-backed Shiite Muslim militia, swarmed into the western half of the capital and crushed fighters loyal to a leading Sunni Muslim faction. The offensive was sparked when the government decided to fire the pro-Hezbollah head of security at the country's international airport and shut down the group's secure phone network.
The government stepped back from the decision, and the Shiite militia quickly receded, handing over formal control of mostly Sunni West Beirut to the Lebanese army over the weekend. But clashes between pro- and anti-government factions erupted around the country and reportedly continued in northern Lebanon on Monday.
The Lebanese army, which stood back from the fighting for fear of exacerbating sectarian differences, issued a statement late Monday declaring that it would begin using force to halt sporadic outbreaks of violence.
The coalition of pro-Western Christian, Sunni and Druze politicians under the so-called March 14 banner has embarked on an effort to draw international backers into the conflict, said coalition leaders and Western diplomats. They fear Hezbollah is trying to use its military strength to cow the government into submitting to its demands, which include noninterference with the militia's drive to build up its arsenal in order to confront Israel.
The coalition's arguments appear aimed at playing on Western and Arab officials' fears of growing Iranian power. The Lebanese officials want other countries to pressure Iran and its ally, Syria, by seeking condemnation of and perhaps new economic sanctions against the two nations at the U.N. Security Council.
One official went so far as to suggest unspecified attacks on Syria to punish Hezbollah's backer and restore a regional balance of power.
