The army said the Hezbollah-allied head of security at Beirut airport will remain in his post and the group's phone network be maintained for the time being . The army command promised to address the issue of the Hezbollah communications network taking into consideration the public interest and the security of the resistance

A row over the two issues sparked violence which left at least 24 dead.

Both sides have agreed to an army call to withdraw gunmen, but Hezbollah says it will continue "civil disobedience".

A Hezbollah statement said: "The Lebanese opposition will end all armed presence in Beirut so that the capital will be in the hands of the army."

But the statement added that the opposition's campaign of "civil disobedience" would continue until its political demands were met.

Reuters news agency says the withdrawal of Hezbollah fighters has already started.

The agreement followed an appeal by the army amid renewed violence in the north of the country in which at least 10 militants died.

Funeral shootings

Lebanon's army is perceived as the country's only neutral arbiter, and analysts predicted it would be key to defusing the current crisis.

Earlier, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora called on the army to restore law and order, saying the country would not fall to Hezbollah after four days of street battles which saw the Shiite movement drive supporters of the government out of western Beirut.

In his first response to Hezbollah's de facto takeover of the west of the capital, Siniora said his government would never declare war against the Shiite group.

Also on Saturday, at least two people were killed after gunfire broke out during a funeral in a Sunni area of Beirut when unidentified gunmen targeted the funeral procession of a Sunni civilian killed during clashes on Friday.

Rioting broke out on Saturday after gunmen targeted a funeral

The spiral of unrest has sparked memories of Lebanon's bitter, 15-year civil war.

Leaders of Lebanon's rival political factions were due to meet on Saturday and the Arab League will hold talks about the crisis on Sunday.

TV station closed

Hezbollah militants had earlier withdrawn from the streets of Beirut having crushed resistance by Sunni gunmen loyal to Siniora's government.

In the areas of Beirut worst affected by battles between Hezbollah and pro-government loyalists, barricades that had been set up were abandoned early on Saturday, said the BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut.

But the TV station run by Sunni leader Saad Hariri is still off the air after gunmen forced its closure on Friday, he added.

In northern Lebanon, at least 10 gunmen were killed when pro-government activists stormed the office of a Hezbollah-allied party in northern Lebanon, reports said.

Gunmen loyal to Hariri set ablaze the office of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party SSNP in the village of Halba, Akkar after the gun battle.

Lebanon was plunged into civil war from 1975-90, drawing in Syria and Israel, the two regional powers.

The latest violence amounts to a humiliating blow to the government, which appears to have badly overplayed its hand in moving to close Hezbollah's telecoms network on Tuesday, our correspondent says.

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