100 Arrested in Lebanese Army SweepLebanese troops on Tuesday arrested two senior Christian officials and about 100 other activists opposed to Syria's dominance in Lebanon.The arrests came two days after Christian supporters demanded at a rally that Syria pull its 25,000 soldiers out of Lebanon. The Lebanese army said the arrests were made during unauthorized meetings of anti-Syrian activists. It gave no other details. The government, split between Christians and pro-Syrian Muslims, has in the past cracked down on the Lebanese Forces and Aoun's followers. Tuesday's action was one of the most serious campaign of arrests so far against the Christian groups. In Antelias, the Christian heartland north of Beirut, Lebanese troops raided an office of the disbanded Lebanese Forces, a Christian group that once fielded the largest militia during the 1975-90 civil war, and arrested about 40 men and women, sources in the group said on condition of anonymity. Also in Antelias, soldiers entered the offices of followers of exiled ex-army Gen. Michel Aoun, a virulent anti-Syrian campaigner. About 60 activists were arrested. In Beirut, soldiers arrested Toufic Hindy, a senior adviser to Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, who has been in jail since 1994 for murdering political enemies, the sources said. Others in custody included Nadim Lteif, a retired army brigadier and Aoun's representative in Lebanon since the general was exiled to France in 1991 after losing a war aimed at ousting Syrian forces from Lebanon. |
| People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/ |