The influence of Hezbollah in Beirut organized Le Figaro From our special correspondent in Beirut Pierre Prier
12/05/2008 taken a position in the capital, but fresh fighting broke out Sunday in Tripoli (north) and in Druze areas near Beirut.
Beirut found Sunday geography of war. Coming from the West, the Muslim sector, the taxi stops suddenly. Can not go by car to the East, Christian. Men in trousers and tee-shirts, black baseball cap black, block instead Bechara el-Khoury, turned into no-man's land. This vast intersection distributes traffic between Christian and Muslim sectors, and to the airport in the south of the capital, in the heart of Hezbollah's stronghold. Sunday at midday, the roundabout is abruptly closed to traffic by men in black, no weapons other than their portable radios. Flags of Hezbollah and its ally Amal militia were hung on telephone poles. A dump truck dump mounds of earth. Sodeco district, on the other hand, is more accessible on foot. At the time of the civil war of 1975-1990, the Green Line that divided Beirut into two went there. It is being reborn.
black men refuse to speak, but call a local resident. Supporter of this movement Amal, who prefers to remain anonymous, said the happy event: "They are men of Amal and Hezbollah. They will block all of Beirut, until Prime Minister Fouad Siniora resigns. "The men in black let go of Figaro reporter. Christian side, you reach a roadblock manned by soldiers meek who attend the scene as spectators.
Campaign "civil disobedience"
In exchange, Hezbollah and its ally Amal had to evacuate neighborhoods West, won in 48 hours of fighting. But the Shiites, backed by the Free Patriotic Movement of Christian General Michel Aoun, have not given up collecting the dividends of their military victory. They launched a campaign of "disobedience civil "to bring down the government. The roadblocks are in Beirut on Sunday in the spearhead. Other roads were closed, including the airport.
It is difficult to distinguish between black men and militia that are supposed to have left West Beirut. As for weapons, have they really left the area? Certainly, the military presence is strong. But, say the residents, the militia remained everywhere, and weapons are not far away. They still weigh on the city. At Kantari, outside the headquarters of the television-news TV Future News building in postmodern architecture combining stones and rusty metal, military control passersby. But this television journalists silenced, belonging to the majority leader Saad Hariri, do not forget that this is a regular army officer who sent them, in the early confrontations, the order of Amal close to the antenna. A few minutes later a policeman came under the threat of pulling out cables transmissions.
Back to the order in sham
Journalists are well aware that prevails in West Beirut. Sunday, they still dare not use their studio metal and glass. "If we fix it, it would seen as a provocation, and nobody could protect us, "said Roland Barbar, a leader in the chain. Saturday, the staff of the TV had a sit-in inside their premises. "The militia came back and told us they would burn everything if we continue," says Wafed, the presenter of the newspaper in French. Journalists gather in the parking lot, where they emit two hours per day with a truck transmission borrowed from their sister Lebanese LBC.
The return to order in trompe l'oeil has not worked anywhere in Lebanon. In Tripoli, the great northern city, violent fighting continued Sunday between Sunni and Alawite, a minority Shiite related. These skirmishes kept the settling of scores between two groups that compete regularly. But the political disintegration encouraged them to move up a gear, a process that recalls, again, that of civil war. The fighting has already claimed 42 deaths in five days. Even
worrying trend in the Druze mountains of the Chouf, where Hezbollah, which had never been beaten in this difficult region, launched an offensive to avenge the deaths of three of its combatants, abducted by men of Druze leader Walid Jumblatt. Druze, representing only 4% of Lebanese, have come together: the militia of two small parties allied to the opposition camp have changed to fight alongside men Jumblatt, Minister of the majority. The Community reflex bonus. A bad sign for Lebanon.
Le Figaro, 26/05/2008 eventually sentenced to three years in prison. Reason given: "publishing false information" and "weakening national sentiment". In fact, the young man of 23 has posted an article criticizing the security of his country on an Internet forum. 
The result of this titanic work conducted over the past 20 years confirms many hypotheses, but also brings its share of surprises. Among the confirmations, scientific have identified nine climatic cycles of alternating glacial and interglacial (warmer). One more a few years ago, where they were identified only eight. Another major conclusion: never, during this long period of several hundreds of thousands of years, was found a CO2 concentration as high as today. 
Since Sunday, the Lebanese army is nevertheless deemed to have regained control of Beirut, under the contract between the government and the armed opposition. The Prime Minister, Fouad Siniora, has trimmed by charging the commander of the army to resolve two problems that had set fire to the powder, the sacking of the director of airport security and the outlawing of Hezbollah's private telephone network. General Michel Suleiman was promptly suspended the eviction of the director, and told an inquiry on the lines of Hezbollah in the service of transmission of the army, which will take its time. 
