Gunfires Renewed South of Beirut as Macron Pushes for Political Rapproachment

Gunfires have been heard this noon in the Khaldeh town, south of Beirut, where clashes last week killed two people and raised the risk of sectarian conflict in Lebanon.

State news agency NNA reported that an army patrol intervened to calm the situation in the area, without providing any further details.

The clashes that took place last week between Sunnis and Shiites in the same area, in which a 13-year-old boy was killed, triggered an active wave of contacts between Lebanese politicians who sought to contain tensions.

A security source said that the brother of one of those involved in the clashes on Thursday came to the area on Monday, which angered the Sunni tribe to which the boy belongs, and shot at the building in which he lives.

Last week, the tribe accused members of the Shi'ite group Hezbollah of opening fire, but the group denied this completely.

The development came as French President L Emmanuel Macron is visiting Lebanon to press for the formation of a government capable of adopting long-needed reforms to help Lebanon emerge from an economic crisis exacerbated by the Beirut port blast last month.

Macron has warned Lebanese politicians that they risk sanctions if they fail to set the nation on a new course within three months, stepping up pressure for reforms in a country collapsing under the weight of an economic crisis.