Clashes in Beirut as strike paralyses city

Beirut : Hezbollah supporters and government backers fought gun battles in Beirut neighbourhoods yesterday, escalating Lebanon's worst internal crisis since the 1975-90 civil war.

The clashes came after the Shiite group blocked major roads to enforce an anti-government strike.

As explosions and gunfire echoed throughout the city, witnesses and television reports said they may have been rocket-propelled grenades.

The strike paralysed Beirut international airport, and at least 19 incoming and 13 outgoing flights had to be cancelled, including several flights to and from the UAE.

The unrest led labour unions to cancel the main demonstration planned to coincide with the strike.

The violence deepened tensions in a country already mired in a 17-month-old political crisis pitting the Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah against the government of US-backed Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, which has left Lebanon without a president since November.

Both the government and the Hezbollah-led opposition accused each other of using gunfire in the clashes. An Associated Press photographer saw gunmen from Hezbollah and its allied Amal group shooting toward a building housing an office for a pro-government group. Police also were seen firing toward a building and at times firing in the air to try to disperse clashes.

A Hezbollah official said the opposition's "civil disobedience" in Beirut will continue until the government revokes its decisions against the Shiite group, including the sacking of Beirut airport security chief.

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah is scheduled to respond to the government moves on Thursday.