5 Hurt as Aoun Tries to Seize Rival Lebanese Christian Bases

BEIRUT â€”  Maverick Christian Maj. Gen. Michel Aoun ordered his troops Tuesday to take over all bases of a rival militia as the two sides prepared to fight for control of the Christian heartland.

Police said five combatants were wounded when Aoun’s 8th Brigade stormed a major barracks of the rival Lebanese Forces, the Christians’ main militia, in East Beirut.

Crack commandos of the 8th Brigade, trained by U.S. Marines in 1983, seized the militia’s Tahwita barracks in the residential district of Furn el-Shubbak after a 90-minute gun battle, police said.

It said four of the injured were Lebanese Forces militiamen and one an Aoun soldier.

Aoun, in a statement issued on his Radio Lebanon station, said he has ordered his 15,000 troops to take over all other barracks of the 6,000-strong Lebanese Forces militia.

“No militia barracks are allowed henceforth to remain in the eastern area,� Aoun said. “Anyone who wants to carry arms should join the army. The country cannot be rebuilt if it still has militias.�

The declaration suggested that a long-expected showdown is imminent between Aoun and the Lebanese Forces commander, Samir Geagea. Geagea is the only Christian warlord with the potential to challenge Aoun’s authority in the enclave.

Geagea recognizes President Elias Hrawi, elected president Nov. 24 under an Arab League-brokered plan to end Lebanon’s 14-year-old civil war.

Aoun, however, has rejected the peace accord because it does not include a deadline for the withdrawal of an estimated 40,000 Syrian troops from Lebanon. He also refused to recognize Hrawi’s election.