Excerpts: Hizbollah/Druze confrontation.Arab League effort. 13 May 2008

+++JORDAN TIMES 12 May '08:"Hizbollah battle Druze:5 dead", Reuters
QUOTE:"Arab foreign ministers ...
appealed for a ceasefire"
EXCERPTS:BEIRUT (Reuters) - Shiites loyal to Lebanese opposition group
Hizbollah battled Druze supporters of the ruling coalition east of Beirut on
Sunday(11 May), adding to the worst civil strife since the 1975-90 war.. .
.Hizbollah and allied Druze fighters took control of several villages in the
area, security sources said. A 6:00pm(1500 GMT) ceasefire did not hold,
witnesses said.. . .

Arab foreign ministers, meeting in emergency session in Cairo, appealed for
a ceasefire in Lebanon.
"The council [of Arab foreign ministers] appeals for an immediate halt of
bombings and shooting, and the withdrawal of gunmen... and the enabling of
the army to deploy in those areas," the Arab League said in a statement ...
They will send a high-level delegation to Beirut immediately to try to
mediate a way out of Lebanon's worst civil strife in 18 years, the Arab
League said. . . .Hizbollah seized much of west Beirut on Friday(0 May)
after its fighters routed supporters of the anti-Syrian ruling coalition..
. .Hizbollah agreed to withdraw its forces from Beirut after the Lebanese
army overturned the government decisions. However, the Hizbollah-led
opposition said it would maintain a campaign of civil disobedience until all
its demands were met.. . .Hizbollah, a political group which has a
guerrilla army, said on Saturday(10 May) it was ending its armed presence in
Beirut after the army overturned the government decisions against it.. .
.The governing coalition accuses Hizbollah of seeking to restore the
influence of Syria, which was forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon in
2005.

+++ARAB NEWS (Saudi) 12 May '08:"Arab League Divided on Lebanon
Resolution"Agence France Presse
QUOTE:"Syria ... had objected"
FULL TEXT:
CAIRO, 12 May 2008 - Arab foreign ministers holding crisis talks in Cairo
were divided yesterday over a draft resolution implicitly condemning
Hezbollah for deadly clashes in Lebanon, delegates said. A draft resolution
put before ministers underlined the Arab League's "rejection of the use of
armed violence to achieve political goals outside the framework of
constitutional legitimacy, and the need for a withdrawal of all weapons from
the streets," according to a text obtained by AFP.
The text was drawn by Egypt and put forward with the support of six other
Arab governments - Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the
United Arab Emirates, delegates said. They said Syria, which was represented
by its ambassador to the Arab League, had objected to the draft.
The meeting followed days of lethal street battles in Lebanon.
The draft text also calls for a meeting of Lebanon's political leaders to
discuss a proposed initiative aimed at ending the political deadlock. It
urges Lebanese politicians "to attend a meeting with a ministerial
delegation yet to be formed in order to discuss the dangerous situation in
Lebanon and draw up an urgent road map to implement the Arab initiative."
The meeting would bring together three opposition leaders - Parliament
Speaker Nabih Berri, former President Michel Aoun and Hezbollah leader
Hassan Nasrallah - with three pro-government politicians - Prime Minister
Fouad Siniora, parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri and former
President Amin Gemayel.
Earlier, the Arab foreign ministers appealed for an end to violence.
"In view of the danger of the situation in Lebanon, the council of ministers
sends out an urgent appeal for an immediate end to violence, shooting in
Mount Lebanon and the withdrawal of gunmen in order to enable the army to
deploy," Ahmed Ben Helli, assistant secretary-general for political affairs,
said reading from a statement.
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Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA