BEIRUT, men armed with batons and the use of bands of arm yellow evoking Lebanon Hezbollah attacked protesters outside the Iranian Embassy in Beirut on Sunday during a demonstration against the participation of the militant group in the civil war, Syria. One protester died, a senior Lebanese military official and witnesses said.
A military statement said that the protesters had just arrived in the area of the Embassy when clashes erupted and a civilian opened fire. The Embassy is in an area of predominantly pro-Hezbollah.
Witnesses saw men bracelets in yellow, the color of the flag of Hezbollah, attacking the protesters with batons. It was not clear whether they were affiliated with the Shiite militant group, and the identity of the author of the shooting was unknown, said a senior security official.
The official identified the dead man as a member of 28 years of small Lebanese party option, which it had called to protest anti-Hezbollah. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with rules.
The Syria conflict is increasingly spilling over into Lebanon, where a fragile mosaic of ethnic and religious groups from more than one dozen. Open involvement of Hezbollah in the conflict, forces of the President Bashar Assad of Syria on a successful campaign of backing rebels from the Qusair unit near the border Lebanese, had heightened tensions.
Obama administration officials could decide this week to approve lethal support for Syrian rebels, said Sunday. Secretary of State John Kerry postponed a trip planned on Monday to Israel and three other Mideast countries to participate in the discussions of the White House, said that the officials were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter and demanded anonymity.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement, the Sunday that backed by the Lebanese Red Cross in the evacuation from Friday 87 Syrians seriously injured in the fighting in Qusair to hospitals in the Lebanon.
The leader of Hezbollah, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, said during the battle of Qusair that he would be part of Assad who the rebels are defeated. Syria's Assad is the main ally and supplier of Hezbollah weapons.
Gunmen of rival religious sects have gone to Syria to fight on the rebel side. The rebels have threatened to attack bases of Hezbollah in the Lebanon.
Clashes in Northern Lebanon between rival Lebanese groups since last month claimed lives more than 28, and rockets have targeted Hezbollah strongholds.
Hezbollah's rivals have increased their criticism, deepening political deadlock and postpone elections for 17 months.
The Lebanese option party is run by a Shiite politician, Ahmad El Assaad, who has been against Hezbollah. Shock on Sunday outside the Iranian Embassy had marked rare combat between two opposing Shiite groups.
Official news agency national Lebanese, said the army sealed the area of clashes in South Beirut. The private Lebanese Jadeed TV said a girl who was also protesting was injured.
The station, said the slain protester was shot twice in the leg, once in the back and was hit on the head with a baton.
The Embassy protest coincided with another small rally in central Beirut also criticize the military intervention of Hezbollah in the conflict in Syria.
Dozens of protesters, including many Syrians, gathered in the central square of martyrs in Beirut where a large banner read: "Reject Hezbollah from fighting in Syria".
"Those who are fighting in Syria are not Lebanese. Its culture, its flag, money and weapons are Iranians, ", said Saleh el-Mashnouk, a fervent critic of Hezbollah. "We are here to erase the shame that they struck Lebanon because of them."
Protester Lebanese Hariri of Samara, 31, said war Syria is damaging the economy of Lebanon and increasing sectarian tension. "My country is affected", he said.
Shiite Iran, patron of Hezbollah, has bet heavily on Assad, who belongs to a Shiite branch.
Clashes in Syria has claimed more than 80,000 lives and displacing millions of people. Next to Lebanon, it has also threatened to spill into neighboring countries, such as Israel and Turkey.
In Syria, fighting between rebels and Government troops raged in different provinces, including near the capital, Damascus, and in the northern province of Aleppo. The media said that after securing control of Qusair, the Government forces are prepared to go to recapture the disputed city of Aleppo then. Activists said that there were no signs of fresh impetus in the city or its surroundings.
Based in Great Britain Syrian Observatory for human rights, which is based on a network of Syrians within the country for information, said that six fighters of the regime were killed in clashes in Aleppo. The city has been carved in areas controlled by rebels and the regime, and the families have been displaced by bombs.
The Observatory also documented a rare case of a public killing of a young person of 15 years of age by Islamist rebel fighters in the city of Aleppo. The Center said that gunmen arrest Mohammed Kattaa later than Saturday, accusing him of being an "infidel" mentioning Islam Prophet Muhammad in vain.
Witnesses said the center of the gunmen, the teenager arguing with a colleague, saying that it does not lend you money even if "Muhammad returns to Earth," heard a common phrase used to describe an impossible task.
The men then brought Kattan towards the Café where she works, with his shirt over his face and back covered with lash marks, witnesses told of the Observatory.
Witnesses said that militants threatened the same punishment for anyone who commits blasphemy. Then they pulled the child with their parents and a crowd before fleeing the scene.
It was not clear which rebel group the gunmen belonged to.
Rights groups have warned against growing abuses by rebel fighters, including killing of regime captured soldiers or allied fighters. Kattan case was a rare example of rebels killing a civilian for blasphemy.
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Associated with the writers of press Zeina Karam and Yasmine Saker, and Bradley Klapper in Washington, contributed to this report.
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