LEBANON: Beirut gunfight between Assad supporters and opponents kills one

Record ID: 375724

  • Title: LEBANON: Beirut gunfight between Assad supporters and opponents kills one
  • Date: 23rd March 2014
  • Summary: BEIRUT, LEBANON (MARCH 23, 2014) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF LEBANESE ARMY SOLDIERS DEPLOYED IN SOUTH BEIRUT VARIOUS OF CAR, BROKEN GLASS VARIOUS OF STREET WHERE GUNFIGHT HAPPENED (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) LEBANESE CITIZEN, RESIDENT OF SOUTH BEIRUT, SAID DABTIYE, SAYING: "We are the people of this area, we don't have Salafists or anything, we are the people here, some of them are t
  • Embargoed: 7th April 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Lebanon
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Topics: Conflict
  • Reuters ID: LVA2SQ2KXYFA33DCICXUYOKRZYYX
  • Story Text: One person was killed and 10 people were wounded in clashes in south Beirut on Sunday (March 23) between supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and rival fighters, security sources said.
    The fighting broke out before dawn between gunmen loyal to Shaker Barjawi, a Sunni Muslim who supports the Syrian Alawite president, and Sunni Muslims who back the three-year uprising against Assad's rule.
    Residents said they heard the sound of loud gunfire and explosions coming from the Al-Gharbi district of southern Beirut, where Barjawi has an office.
    "We are the people of this area, we don't have Salafists or anything, we are the people here, some of them are the Future movement's supporters, and others are mixed. Every time Shaker Barjawi comes out with those thugs and sends them towards us. Enough! We ask the army leader and the president to solve this. We lost someone who has nothing to do with it," said one resident, Said Dabtiye.
    "What happened? Those thugs of Shaker attacked us, killed our children and burned our houses. Those thugs of Shaker, he is the first thug among them. As you can see, they burned our houses and made people leave, this is what happened. They won't win with the people of this area," added Samar Al-Rayess.
    Security sources named the dead man as Nabil Hannash. Several other people including civilians, were wounded in the clashes, they said. The army later deployed in the area and the clashes appeared to subside.
    The fighting in Beirut follows a week of sustained violence in the northern city of Tripoli, where 27 people have been killed in fighting between Assad supporters and opponents which also sparked clashes with the Lebanese army.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register