Tuesday, 23 January, 2007 @ 9:07 PM
Beirut- Lebanon's Prime Minister Fouad Siniora called today for an urgent parliamentary session to discuss the deteriorating security situation after mushrooming riots between anti and pro-government factions claimed three lives and at least 133 injured.
Siniora told a news conference "I demand an immediate extraordinary meeting by the parliament to settle issues within the constitutional institutions."
Siniora said the general strike called by the opposition has developed into "provocations that went beyond all limits."
"Blocking roads... is an aggression on the people and their freedoms. It is an attack on social order and it involves risks that are hidden to nobody."
However, he stressed that "our hands remain stretched to facilitate dialogue and settle problems and renew confidence between the Lebanese."
The premier said the March 14 parliamentary majority that supports his government "will not fail to listen to the opinions of others."
He urged for "quick treatment that would take differences away from the street to be discussed within the framework of legitimate institutions, topped by the parliament."
Siniora concluded by stressing that "we will always remain together against intimidation. We will be together against internal disputes to safeguard Lebanon."
Siniora's news conference followed daylong confrontations between anti and pro-government factions throughout Lebanon which security sources said killed three people and wounded at least 133.
"Two people were killed in clashes in the northern city of Tripoli, and a third person was killed in Batroun," also in the north, a senior police official said.
Security sources told Naharnet most of the casualties suffered bullet wounds in the running confrontations that spread across most of the country after the army and security forces failed to re-open roads blocked by the Hezbollah-led opposition.
The casualties included two of former MP Fares Soaid's bodyguards who tried to cover him when his car came under fire in the northern village of Mistita, near the town of Byblos.
Soaid, a prominent member of the March 14 majority alliance, was not hit in the attack, police reported.
Tongues of flame shot up into the sky and thick-black smoke billowed from thousands of blazing rubber tires that blocked roads in Beirut, north, east, central and south Lebanon.
Meanwhile, trucks flying Hezbollah flags unloaded tons of debris, dirt and stones in at least 12 spots along the highway leading to Rafik Hariri International airport as army troops watched without trying to prevent them.
Hezbollah -run bulldozers moved to erect earth mounds along the highway, to prevent citizens from reaching the airport.
A statement by the civil aviation authority said the airport remains operational, but passengers have not been able to make it to the facility.
In Beirut's Mar Elias commercial thoroughfare, hooded supporters of Hezbollah and the Shiite Amal movement also blocked traffic by blazing rubber tires and rocks.
However, some motorists insisted on driving through the blockade. A lady, driving a dark blue Mercedes, was attacked by protestors who tried to smash her vehicle's wind shield.
The apparently determined lady sped-on hitting three of the protestors, who were evacuated later by an Amal ambulance.
In Beirut's Corniche Mazraa commercial thoroughfare, a two-hour confrontation raged between Hezbollah -Amal elements, on the one hand, and Sunni supporters of al-Mustaqbal movement, headed by parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri.
The confrontation started when the Hezbollah -Amal elements erected a barrier made up of blazing rubber tires along the main highway and blocked traffic.
A crowd from the predominantly Sunni Tariq Jedideh residential district took to the street, equipped with sticks, stones and iron rods, and engaged the Amal- Hezbollah elements.
Both factions hurled rocks at each other and all of a sudden staccato bursts of automatic rifle fire echoed across the area. At least six people were wounded before an army patrol intervened and managed to re-open the road.
Cautious calm prevailed, but groups of young men were seen staking it out at street corners, which indicates that the confrontation could break out again.
In north and Mount Lebanon, members of Samir Geagea's Lebanese Forces took to the streets to reopen roads blocked by followers of Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement and Suleiman Franjieh's Marada faction, the two Christian groups allied with Hezbollah.
Violence broke out nearly three hours after the opposition blocked roads and the army refrained from intervening to reopening them.
In the Northern Akkar province, seven members of Hariri's Mustaqbal movement were wounded when armed elements of the Syrian Social National Party (SSNP) opened fire at them as they arrived at the town of Halba on their way to work, security sources reported.
They said one of the wounded was in a critical condition.
In the Sofar mountain resort east of Beirut, three SSNP members were wounded when unidentified assailants opened fire at their car, the sources added.
The opposition has been trying in vain since Dec. 1 to topple the Siniora government. The confrontation Tuesday pushed the nation a step further towards the threat of civil unrest that the majority alliance has been trying to avoid
Picture: Beirut , the capital of Lebanon known for its beautiful blue skies , looked like this at 7: 30 am today
Sources: Naharnet, Ya Libnan
-led protesters took to the streets to block all major highways throughout Lebanon. This was a result of the country's  not meeting his opposition's demand to abdicate. They burnt tires and cars in and around the capital,  enforcing a general strike called for by .

Thousands of police and  were deployed across the country. They worked together in opening roads, negotiating with some of the protesters, but refrained from using force.

The riots and clashes left three dead, including two bodyguards for former Member of Parliament, Fares Soaid, who is also a member of Lebanon's . Over a hundred and thirty other people were injured. Clean up operations were on their way, while the Internal Security Forces (ISF) imposed a curfew.