Pro- and anti-Hezbollah clashes kill 1 in Beirut

BEIRUT - Agence France-Presse

A youth injured in a Beirut clash yesterday between supporters and opponents of Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah has died of his wounds, an army spokesman said.

The clash broke out in front of the Iranian embassy on the outskirts of the capital, where opponents of Hezbollah were demonstrating against its involvement in fighting in neighboring Syria. Hezbollah supporters attacked the demonstrators, the army spokesman said. The clash ended minutes later when the army intervened. An army statement confirmed the protester’s death. “As members of a political movement arrived in the Bir Hassan neighborhood (where the Iranian embassy is located) there was a clash during which a man opened fire with a revolver,” it said. “A civilian was critically injured and has since died.” Tehran is a key supporter of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, whose regime is also backed by Hezbollah. Tensions in fragile Lebanon have soared since Hezbollah announced it was fighting alongside regime forces against rebels in Syria’s Qusayr, which fell on June 5 after a massive offensive.