LDP Supporters Briefly Block Bhamdoun Highway
Supporters of the Lebanese Democratic Party and relatives of two guards killed in gunfire a day earlier, briefly blocked with burning tires the Mount Lebanon highway of Bhamdoun, as the sound of heavy shooting into the air was heard on Monday.
The Civil Defense firefighting team extinguished the burning tires and the road was reopened. The Lebanese Army deployed in the area.
The move came in protest at the deadly gunfire attack against the convoy of State Minister of Refugee Affairs, Saleh al-Gharib of the LDP, that left two of his guards dead and one critically injured.
On Sunday, gunmen opened gunfire at the convoy of al-Gharib in the mountain village of Qabrshmoun, killing two of his guards and wounding another.
Al-Gharib told local TV he was heading to Qabrshmoun when his convoy came under fire. Al-Gharib is a member of a Druze party allied with Hizbullah and supportive of the Syrian government.
The shooting came as supporters of the Progressive Socialist Party, led by Druze leader Walid Jumblat, closed roads to prevent Free Patriotic Movement chief and Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil from touring the region. Jumblat's party is opposed to Assad.
The PSP said in a statement that al-Gharib's guards opened fire "randomly" at a group of people who were closing the road to prevent Bassil from passing. It said a PSP supporter was wounded in the shooting, and that others who had weapons opened fire at al-Gharib's convoy, killing two of his guards.
"What happened was an armed ambush and a clear assassination attempt," al-Gharib told the local al-Jadeed TV.
The area where the shooting took place witnessed some of the worst fighting and sectarian killings during Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war. Tensions in the area remain high decades later.
Prime Minister Saad Hariri called officials from the rival parties as well as heads of security agencies, urging them to restore calm.
Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Naim Hassan called on members of the sect to calm the situation and urged state institutions to open an investigation into the shooting.
