Protests draining Lebanon army, says general

LEBANON’S army commander warned the government that Beirut’s daily protests were dangerously draining military resources.

Yesterday scores of Shi’ites mourned the death of a man in a riot that reflected the country’s political tensions.

The comments by General Michel Suleiman showed that the military was concerned that the political crisis between the pro-Western prime minister, a Sunni Muslim, and the pro-Syrian opposition, led by Shi’ites, is approaching dangerous levels.