Cautious Calm in Tripoli as Army Deploys Heavily in City
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
The army began to deploy on Tuesday in Syria Street, which separates the rival neighborhoods of Sunni Bab al-Tabbaneh and Alawite Jabal Mohsen in Tripoli, after guarantees that it won’t come under fire.
According to the National News Agency, the army combed the streets to remove any unexploded ordnance.
Cautious calm prevailed in Tripoli but was breached by sporadic gunshots at dawn.
The army issued a statement later confirming the troop deployment in Bab al-Tabbaneh, Jabal Mohsen, and Syria Street.
“The army is conducting patrols and setting checkpoints in the city to prevent any security breach and to enable citizens to resume their normal lives,” the statement said.
According to the statement, the Internal Security Forces also reinforced its presence in Tripoli.
“The military command stressed that maintaining security is a national need and chaos does not serve anyone’s interest,” the army said.
It noted that the army is present to preserve stability in the northern port city and not to wage a confrontation with the residents.
The army urged the residents to support the army, confirming its decision to demilitarize the city.
Army Commander Gen. Jean Qahwaji told al-Akhbar newspaper Tuesday that the situation in the area will be resolved and “will go back to normal gradually.”
Asked about the political decision that the army was waiting for in order to deploy in Tripoli, he said that the army “entered the area of clashes as soon as they started but it went under fire, and the most important issue was to protect our troops.”
“When we made sure that everyone is demanding the army to intervene and that the army and troops will be safe from any sporadic gunshots, we decided to heavily deploy in the areas of tension,” Qahwaji told the daily.
Sources close to Prime Minister Najib Miqati stressed the army was granted a “political and an official cover.”
The clashes in Tripoli have been ongoing for the past three days after the General Security Department detained Shadi al-Mawlawi on charges of belonging to a terrorist organization.
Al-Mawlawi's supporters say he was targeted because of his help for Syrian refugees fleeing to Lebanon.
15 May 2012, 09:46
03
Rubish!
Lebanon should be a weapons free zone. Except for the Army no citizen or other person in Lebanon should be able to have weapons.!
15 May 2012, 10:27
02
hahaha :P ah yes the old zionist problem, id say just as bad as the jihadist problem.
15 May 2012, 10:30
31
You'll never be serious guys! lek el milichyet el ze3ran 3a chakel sourtak slash have more weapons than anyone can imagine. Sad!
15 May 2012, 10:39
13
nchalla one day soon we reach this ya cedar! Noone more than me wants this...
15 May 2012, 17:14
00
Bravo again slash! You continue impressing us with your insights. See you took a decision and made me part of hezb, heke without any data w now 3am bet zee3a. If only you knew how close we are ya jar ;) hahahaha
15 May 2012, 09:47
01
Naharnet.. Please correct the title.. It should read " Cautious Calm" and not "Cautions Calm". Mistakes like these should not be permissible.
15 May 2012, 12:03
02
Hopefully all will come to their senses and recognize that these destructive battles are beneficial only to those who want to continue disintegrating the Lebanese entity.
15 May 2012, 12:51
03
A timid army cannot resolve security in Lebanon. An army that takes its decisions based on the dictates of politicians will never evolve fully to assert its authority over the land. The Lebanese army is amongst the best trained and best disciplined, and God knows that it is highly respected and trusted by the vast majority of the population. One would now expect the army to purge the city of Tripoli of all weapons and declare it Lebanon's first city truly free of arms and militias. Once that is done, then the nation will gradually want to emulate Tripoli's stance and thus give the army sole responsibility over the nation's security, and stability. Maybe it's an uphill struggle given the other cities where the case might prove more of a challenge, but still worth the effort.
15 May 2012, 15:16
01
totally agree with you, however tripoli is not a small thing to deaal with, especially with jabal mohsen, which is a stronghold of the syrians.
a few months back I remember their leader saying they are part of the resistance, thus considering their weapons as an extension to hizbushaitan....
unfortunately nothing is that simple..
but I agree with your reasoning that hizbushaitan is cornered, and if they want to survive they should make a drastic change. however they do not seem to realize it, and they continue forcing their way, while seeing everything falling around them.
15 May 2012, 17:13
30
Geha, nice insights. Do you really feel they are cornered though? Don't you feel that this propaganda against the weapons is just a topic M14 brought up because they didn't have anything else to say last year? When hareerz stripped in a ridiculous fashion in front of all the people? Don't you feel that M14 is cornered and didn't bring anything to the country so now they are creating noise with these weapons utopia? Even el batrak supported the existence of these weapons. Leave them in peace and focus on the real issues at hand : ghala el ma3eeshe, kahraba, nadafe, may... and 7ej ba'a M14 y3are'lo kell chi... Let's work hand in hand on the real problems. el strategiye el dife3iye will come in due time...
15 May 2012, 17:58
00
- yes I believe they are corenered for the reasons I laid down yesterday, i.e. israel threat, syrian situation, cabinet situation, failure of any achievement,....
- the weapons: based on all analysts, the weapons are now a burdon on hizbushaitan, because of several factors.....
- batrak is wrong according to many analysts too, aand the upcoming events will show the reality of things soon.
- hizbushaitan weapons have a sole purpose currently, and that is to ascertain their hegemony. take out these weapons, what is their internal leverage? they will have to abide by the democratic decisions.
- all they want to achieve is a de facto hegemony through a new national pact, whereby they wish to get more leverage over all other sects, and this is not going t happen.
- they are desperate to change the election laws so they can secure a majority, and since they cannot, it is in their interest to create strive in the country, in order to force a new taef.
15 May 2012, 14:35
00
I feel sorry for the people that lost their lives and properties...ALL Lebanese citizens (Sunni, Shiia, Christians, Jews, Druze etc..) should be treated equal with no favoritism and no one should be above the law..no one including hizballa.
15 May 2012, 14:50
00
This is so funny...They want to protect the army from sporadic fire...what about the people that were getting killed? This army is a bad joke...really!
15 May 2012, 16:48
20
No one should be above the including tayar al mustahbal, this party acts like it's above the law, why would these "sunnis" extremists in bab al tebeneh start to shoot at the jabal mohsen district and at the Lebanese Army ??!
What about the "Letfallah 2" ship ? To who were these weapons for?
These conflicts favour in our temporary neighbour, Israel and whoever does not want peace in this country.
Rest in peace for the civilians who lost their lives
Go Lebanese Army !
16 May 2012, 08:51
00
arrest them all we don't need thugs and terrorist in our country, better yet arrest their leaders: Harriri Saniuora ....
