Roads Blocked across Lebanon 'in Solidarity' with Arsal, Mashnouq Says al-Labweh Road to be Reopened Wednesday

Demonstrators blocked several key roads throughout the country on Tuesday to protest the continued closure of the only route leading from and to the border town of Arsal by residents of neighboring al-Labweh.

In the Bekaa, “a number of individuals blocked the al-Masnaa road in solidarity with Arsal,” al-Jadeed television reported.

For its part, the National News Agency said “several young men blocked the international highway in both directions in Saadnayel in solidarity with Arsal's residents.”

And in Taalbaya, protesters blocked the Chtaura-Baalbek highway with burning tires and rocks, according to LBCI TV.

NNA said protesters also blocked the Qob Elias-Aammiq road in al-Bohsas and the Jdita-Chtaura road.

In Beirut, demonstrators closed the Sports City, Qasqas and Corniche al-Mazraa roads.

Al-Jazeera TV said "a man was killed in Beirut's Tariq al-Jedideh as security forces dispersed a protest that was held in solidarity with Arsal."

LBCI television said "the army's Military Police launched a probe into the killing of a man from the Shawwa family and the wounding of another during the dispersion of young men who had blocked the Qasqas road."

The Sports City road was later reopened in both directions, according to MTV.

The vital highway between Beirut and the South was also briefly blocked at the al-Saadiyat intersection. Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) said army troops fired in the air to disperse the protesters.

Protesters also blocked several roads in the southern city of Sidon to express their solidarity with Arsal.

Meanwhile in the North, demonstrators blocked roads in Wadi Khaled, Tripoli's al-Qobbeh, al-Abdeh, Halba, al-Kuwaikhat, Minieh, al-Bireh, Minjez and al-Kawashra.

The National News Agency said "spontaneous demonstrations" were staged in Wadi Khaled in solidarity with the Bekaa town.

Later on Tuesday, Future TV quoted Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq as saying that "the Arsal-al-Labweh road will be reopened tomorrow (Wednesday) morning" and that "the army and the security forces will enter Arsal."

Later on Tuesday, the Army Command issued a statement saying "starting this evening until tomorrow (Wednesday), army units will boost their deployment in the northern Bekaa border areas, especially in and around the Arsal and al-Labweh areas."

The army "will start reopening all roads between these two towns to secure the passage of citizens and preserve security and stability in the region."

On Saturday, al-Labweh residents had blocked the road leading to and from Arsal in the wake of a rocket attack on their town that left a young man dead. They said that the rockets were fired by gunmen operating in Arsal's outskirts.

The road was reopened on Sunday afternoon at the request of the family of the slain young man before it was blocked again late Sunday in the wake of a deadly suicide car blast that rocked the nearby town of al-Nabi Othman.

Arsal's deputy mayor Ahmed Fliti said Tuesday that Hizbullah gunmen and al-Labweh residents have tightened their chokehold on Arsal.

The standoff around the eastern town is the latest in a growing spillover of the Syrian conflict into Lebanon.

Fliti said gunmen set up roadblocks and closed off the road connecting the town to the rest of Lebanon, opening fire on cars from Arsal that tried to approach the roadblock.

He said concerns are rising that aid won't be able to reach thousands of Syrian refugees sheltered in Arsal.

Lebanon has been on edge since the Syrian town of Yabrud near the border was taken by President Bashar Assad's troops and Hizbullah fighters on Sunday. Its rebel defenders started pouring into Arsal, which is surrounded by villages that are sympathetic to Hizbullah.

Lebanese aid organizations distributed a three-day emergency food supply to the neediest refugees in Arsal on Monday, a U.N. official said, but stressed that tens of thousands more had to rely on dwindling stocks within the town.

"Assistance will definitely be hindered without the reopening of the road. What is available in Arsal won't be enough," the official said.

Arsal is a town of 40,000 Lebanese and 52,000 Syrian refugees for whom the road is a vital lifeline.

Another 200 Syrian families have arrived in Arsal over the past few days, fleeing the fighting after Syrian troops seized Yabrud.