Anti-Hezbollah protester shot dead in Beirut

A young Lebanese Shiite man demonstrating against Hezbollah's participation in Syria's war was shot and fatally wounded Sunday, in the first such incident in Beirut, a security official has said. Shots were fired in front of the Iranian embassy on the outskirts of the capital, where opponents of the Iran-backed Shiite movement Hezbollah were demonstrating against its involvement in the two-year-old conflict in neighbouring Syria. Shiite politician Ahmad al-Assaad said the victim's name was Hashem al-Salman, and that he was killed intentionally. "He was a student leader in our party, and he and I were close," said Assaad. "Hashem was Shiite. His execution proves that Hezbollah's problem is not with other sects in Lebanon, but with anyone who dares to oppose them," Assaad added. Tehran is a key supporter of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, whose regime is also backed by Hezbollah.