Lebanese army deployed to halt unrest in Beirut, Tripoli

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Lebanese army has deployed on the streets of Beirut and Tripoli in a bid to calm deadly tensions, BBC News reported.

Several people were killed in gunfights between pro- and anti-Syrian factions in Tripoli on Monday, October 22 after the death of a senior security official on Friday.

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has been in Beirut for talks with President Michel Suleiman about the murder of Wissam al-Hassan.

She also met Prime Minister Najib Mikati in an apparent show of support.

Former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, a leader of the Western-backed 14 March opposition bloc, was also expected to meet the president later.

Over the weekend, Mr Suleiman rejected an offer of resignation from Mr Mikati - a Sunni Muslim who heads a cabinet dominated by the pro-Syrian Shia Islamist movement Hezbollah and its allies.

The decision prompted Mr Siniora to warn: "The Lebanese people won't accept, after today, the continuation of the government of assassination."

He made the remarks at the funeral of the security official killed on Friday, Gen Wissam al-Hassan, who had close links to the 14 March alliance and the family of its leader, former Prime Minister Saad Hariri. Opposition MPs were on Tuesday boycotting parliamentary sessions.