| [BANG!] "Stop or we'll shoot!" |
One civilian was killed east of Beirut when the Lebanense army fired warning shots during clashes between pro- and anti-Syrian parties, a military statement said Monday. "An army unit, called to separate members of rival parties who were fighting, fired warning shots which wounded Soleiman Rai, who subsequently died in hospital," it said. Witnesses said that the clashes Sunday in the town of Dhour Choueir pitted members of the Christian Phalangist party loyal to former president Amin Gemayel against the Syrian National Social Party (SNSP), which promotes the idea of a greater Syria. The death came less than a week before Lebanon's multi-stage legislative elections get underway, the first since the murder of anti-Syrian former prime minister Rafiq Hariri in February.The fight took place Sunday evening when the Phalangists were coming back from an electoral meeting that took place in their stronghold of Bikfaya and were crossing Dhour Choueir in coaches. Bikfaya and Dhour Choueir are situated 25 and 30 kilometres (15 and 18 miles) east of Beirut respectively, in the Christian-dominated constituency of Metn. Tens of thousands of Phalangists had celebrated Sunday the restoration of a statue of its founder Pierre Gemayel, which was dynamited and subsqequently taken down when Syrian troops entered Metn in 1990 and SNSP supporters deployed in force in Bikfaya. Following the withdrawal of Syrian troops on April 26, supporters of Gemayel returned in force to his native village. SNSP supporters are still present in Dhour Choeir, on the way between Beirut and the eastern Bekaa valley. A traditional enmity that dates back some 70 years opposes the Phalangists to the SNSP. Pitched battles took place during Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war between the two parties' militias.