Beirut: Lebanese soldiers patrolled a Beirut neighbourhood and residents stepped over spent bullet casings and broken glass on Wednesday after deadly street battles between the Shiite Hezbollah group and a small Sunni faction killed at least four people.
Both sides said Tuesday night's fighting was a personal dispute that escalated into running battles with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades in the residential Bourj Abu Haider district.
Security officials said four people were killed - three Hezbollah members and a member of the conservative Sunni Al Ahbash group.
It was not clear why the fighting intensified.
Abdul Qadir Al Fakhani, a spokesman for Al Ahbash, said his group was meeting with Hezbollah and the Lebanese army on Wednesday to ensure the situation does not flare up again.
Al Fakhani and another witness said there was a commotion outside the Bourj Abu Haidar mosque about 20 minutes before the gunbattles began, with men fighting over a car.
"They were shouting and yelling insults at each other," Al Fakhani told The Associated Press. "Then a group from Hezbollah approached the mosque, and they just kept coming. We were astonished," he said.
Within some 20 minutes, both sides apparently gathered reinforcements and the street battles began.
Hezbollah did not comment beyond a joint statement issued by the two groups late on Tuesday saying the incident resulted from a "personal dispute and has no political or sectarian background."
The mosque was pierced by bullets and cleaning crews were sweeping up the rubble on Wednesday. At least one gunman holding an AK-47 was seen in a building across from the mosque.
