Gunfire and the thump of exploding rocket-propelled grenades echoed across west Beirut, where the fighting was concentrated between Sunni militants loyal to the Western-backed government and Shiite opposition gunmen.
The international Red Cross said at least 10 people were killed in the street battles that erupted Thursday after Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said a government crackdown on his Iranian-backed Shiite Muslim group was a declaration of war.
Leaders of Lebanon's ruling coalition have been called to an emergency meeting while Arab states are pushing for a special session of foreign ministers to tackle the crisis.
Lebanon's already debt-laden economy could also be hard hit, with the forced shutdown of the country's only international airport and the Beirut port and several major highways blocked by protesters.
Witnesses and correspondents said several Sunni neighborhoods in west Beirut considered bastions of Lebanon's ruling bloc had been overrun by militants from Hezbollah and its ally Amal.
Fierce gun battles also raged in the mixed Sunni-Shiite-Christian neighborhood of Hamra where opposition militants also appeared to be gaining ground
Hezbollah, the most powerful armed movement in Lebanon, has also forced the shutdown of all media belonging to the family of parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri, while a rocket hit the outer perimeter of his Beirut residence.
Hariri, whose father Rafik Hariri was assassinated in 2005, had made a television appeal to try to calm the situation but this was rejected by Hezbollah.
'My appeal to you and to myself as well. the appeal of all Lebanon, is to stop the slide toward civil war, to stop the language of arms and lawlessness,' said Hariri.
Gunmen firing rocket-propelled grenades surrounded the headquarters of the Hariri's Future Television and his movement's Al-Mustaqbal newspaper early Friday, forcing all its media outlets to close.
'All media channels have shut down and were place under the control of the army after we received threats from armed elements of Hezbollah,' said a company official.
Air traffic was paralyzed for the third straight day with no flights scheduled to land or take off from Beirut international airport, an airport official said, after Hezbollah supporters blocked access with mounds of earth and burning tires.
Nasrallah delivered his defiant speech on Thursday after the government launched a probe into a private communications network run by Hezbollah, which is seen in the West as a terrorist outfit and which critics say has become a 'state within a state'.
'The decisions are tantamount to a declaration of war and the start of a war... on behalf of the United States and Israel,' Nasrallah charged. 'The hand that touches the weapons of the resistance will be cut off.'
The United States delivered a blunt warning to Hezbollah to stop its 'disruptive activities' while UN Security Council members said they were 'deeply concerned' over the crisis.
The crisis will be the focus of talks between President George W. Bush and Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora in Egypt next week during the US leader's tour of the Middle East.
Regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia, which backs the Siniora government, called for an urgent meeting of Arab foreign ministers, while Yemen suggested army chief Michel Suleiman be mandated to chair a dialogue to resolve the crisis.
The latest unrest erupted on Wednesday during a general strike over price increases and wage demands which quickly degenerated into a confrontation between political rivals.
The long-running political standoff, which first erupted in November 2006 when six pro-Syrian ministers quit the cabinet, has left the country without a president since November, when pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud stepped down.
While the rival factions have agreed to Suleiman as a consensus candidate, they disagree on the make-up of the new cabinet and so far 18 sessions of parliament to choose a president have been canceled.
Rumors
Many rumors circulated last night and early this morning about the fate of the government
Al Manar , the mouthpiece of Hezbollah reported last night that all the ministers left the Grand Serail ( the seat of the government ) to an unknown destination , but this morning Minister of Sports Ahmed Fatfat said " We are all here and under the protection of the Lebanese army
Similarly there were rumors that Democratic gathering leader MP Walid Jumblatt was not in Beirut and left to an unknown destination , but Jumblatt denied the rumors and said he is" in Beirut and will not leave Beirut , despite the fact that Hezbollah's Nasrallah has sentenced me to death during his speech".
A Hezbollah Shiite gunmen stands guard during clashes in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, May 9, 2008. Shiite opposition gunmen seized control of several Beirut neighborhoods from Sunni foes loyal to the Lebanese government on Friday, in street battles that left 11 dead, security officials said.
The Lebanese people have always been concerned that Hezbollah one day will turn its guns against them .
Tags: Hezbollah, Lebanon, source: Forbes, Ya Libnan
