The United States yesterday blamed the militant Lebanese Shi’ite group Hezbollah for escalating sectarian violence in the country that left at least six people dead and revived bitter memories of the bloody civil wars of a generation ago.
But Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, locked in a bitter political stalemate with Lebanon’s pro-Western government, sounded a defiant note by vowing to “cut off the hand that is raised against us” in a rare televised statement to supporters.
“Those who shoot at us, we will shoot at them,” he said.
Two days of street clashes in Beirut have seen Shi’ite Hezbollah fighters battling with the government’s mostly Sunni Muslim backers, using machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. Reuters news agency reported that at least six people were dead and 15 wounded in the fighting.
The civil strife is the worst since the 1975-1990 civil war that killed an estimated 150,000 people.
The Bush administration has long backed the government of Prime Minister Fuad Siniora against Hezbollah, which has strong links to both Iran and Syria. Washington blames Hezbollah’s armed wing for provoking the inconclusive, monthlong war with Israel nearly two summers ago and for ignoring U.N. demands that the faction disarm.
Hezbollah’s leaders must “stop their disruptive activities now,” White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe told reporters at the presidential retreat in Crawford, Texas.
“Hezbollah needs to make a choice: Be a terrorist organization or be a political party, but quit trying to be both,” Mr. Johndroe added.
Lebanon’s complex, sectarian political balance has been seriously shaken by a 17-month standoff over the selection of a new president and political changes demanded by Hezbollah as the largest opposition party.
The immediate spark for this week’s fighting came when the Cabinet moved to shut down Hezbollah’s private telephone network and remove the security chief at the country’s biggest airport, a Shi’ite, on charges he was too sympathetic to Hezbollah.
Hezbollah’s Mr. Nasrallah yesterday angrily denounced the government’s actions as “tantamount to a declaration of war.” Violent clashes broke out after Hezbollah supporters organized protests and blocked the road leading to the airport.
But the latest crisis could also prove an opportunity, said Ahmad El Assaad, founder of a new Shi’ite political party.
“Hezbollah is not strong because people believe in their rhetoric,” Mr. El Assaad told the Middle East Times on a Washington visit this week. “Hezbollah is strong because they have money and they have a huge social network.”
Mr. El Assaad also told a gathering at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars that he was seeking U.S. and international backing to counter what he said was some $60 million to $70 million a month the Iran was giving Hezbollah.
“Cut off that money today, and I will show you how much support Hezbollah has in our country,” he said.
• Claude Salhani of the Middle East Times contributed to this article, which is based in part on wire service reports.
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