Meanwhile, sectarian fighting spread through the streets of Beirut on May 8 as Shiite Hizbullah operatives and Sunni backers of the Lebanese government battled with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.
The violence started in Muslim West Beirut, where masked gunmen opened fire along Corniche Mazraa, a major thoroughfare that has become a demarcation line between the two sides.
Earlier, on April 21, the government of Prime Minister Fuad Siniora launched an
operation to seal the 150-kilometer border with Syria. Lebanon's state-owned
National News Agency reported that security forces were focusing on
the northern border.
Officials said the border would be sealed in the area of Nabi Barri in the Hermel
region.
Over the last month, hundreds of Palestinian and Iranian-trained
insurgents have infiltrated Lebanon from Syria. Officials said the
infiltrators included members of the Syrian-sponsored Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine-General Command and Fatah Al Islam.
The United Nations has sought to help the Lebanese government increase
border security. But the UN Interim Force in Lebanon has backed down from
confrontations with Lebanese militias, particularly the Iranian-sponsored
Hizbullah.
In March 2008, Hizbullah prevented UNIFIL from seizing a truckload of
weapons in southern Lebanon. Hizbullah fighters aimed assault rifles toward
UNIFIL troops, who on March 31 abandoned their attempt to confiscate the
truck near the Litani River.
"This serious violation of the UN resolution raises concerns," a report
by UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said.
