国际英语资讯:Lebanese president calls for emergency meeting on security amid tensions

BEIRUT, June 30 -- Lebanese President Michel Aoun called on Sunday for all Lebanese parties and their supporters to remain calm amid tensions that erupted in Mount Lebanon's Aley district earlier in the day, the Presidency's website reported.

Aoun also called for an emergency meeting on Monday for the Higher Defense Council to discuss the latest security developments in Mount Lebanon.

Lebanese Druze Minister Saleh Gharib, who is also member of the pro-Syrian Lebanese Democratic Party headed by Talal Arslan, said earlier on the day that gunmen opened fire at his convoy while he was heading to the mountain village of Qabr Shamoun. Two of his guards were killed.

Gharib said his convoy was attacked by supporters of a rival Druze faction headed by Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) leader Walid Jumblatt.

Tensions erupted Sunday in Aley in parallel to a plan for leader of the Free Patriotic Movement Gebran Bassil who is an ally of Arslan to visit the area prompting PSP supporters to block the roads.

PSP leader Walid Jumblatt is a long-time critic of Bassil's role in the government.