Cautious Calm in Aley after Deadly Armed Clash Involving Minister's Convoy

The Lebanese Army on Monday reinforced security measures and intensified its patrols in the towns and villages of Aley after Sunday’s armed clash in the town of Qabrshmoun that left two dead and one wounded, the National News Agency reported.

NNA said that calm has been restored in the area and that no armed presence was spotted.

On Sunday, gunmen opened gunfire at the convoy of State Minister of Refugees Saleh al-Gharib in the mountain village near Beirut, killing two of his guards and wounding another.

Al-Gharib told local TV he was heading to Qabrshmoun when his convoy came under fire. Al-Gharib is a member of a Druze party allied with Hizbullah and supportive of the Syrian government.

The shooting came as supporters of the Progressive Socialist Party, led by Druze leader Walid Jumblat, closed roads to prevent Free Patriotic Movement chief and Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil from touring the region. Jumblat's party is opposed to Assad.

The PSP said in a statement that al-Gharib's guards opened fire "randomly" at a group of people who were closing the road to prevent Bassil from passing. It said a PSP supporter was wounded in the shooting, and that others who had weapons opened fire at al-Gharib's convoy, killing two of his guards.

"What happened was an armed ambush and a clear assassination attempt," al-Gharib told the local al-Jadeed TV.

The area where the shooting took place witnessed some of the worst fighting and sectarian killings during Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war. Tensions in the area remain high decades later.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri called officials from the rival parties as well as heads of security agencies, urging them to restore calm.

Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Naim Hassan called on members of the sect to calm the situation and urged state institutions to open an investigation into the shooting.