Pat Dollard | Young Americans

LEBANON’s political and military leaders struggled to pull the country back from a deepening civil conflict yesterday with a measure of calm returning to Beirut after four days of fighting but the streets of Tripoli erupting in violence.

At least two people were killed as battles raged in Tripoli, in the north, between supporters of Lebanon’s Western-backed Government and the Hezbollah-led opposition, a security official said.

“One woman has died in her house near Bab al-Tebbaneh,” the official said, adding that about 7000 people had fled the area.

A number of people had been wounded but rescuers were having a tough time entering the affected areas, he said.

Residents of Tripoli could hear heavy machine-gun fire and exploding rocket-propelled grenades, some of which fell inside the city, one witness said.

The fighting, which began overnight on Saturday, was between supporters of the ruling bloc and members of an Alawite sect loyal to Hezbollah, which is backed by Syria and Iran.

The unrest came despite a return to calm in the capital, Beirut, which was the scene of fierce sectarian fighting between mainly Sunni supporters of the ruling bloc and Shiite militants loyal to the Hezbollah-led opposition that left at least 44 people dead and 128 wounded.

By Saturday evening the Government appeared to back away from the political decree that sparked the confrontation, while the Shiite militia Hezbollah gave up its control of West Beirut, which it had seized handily a day earlier in an offensive that stunned Lebanese and sent shock waves throughout the region.

On Saturday the Prime Minister, Fouad Siniora, publicly asked the army to intervene.

“We request the army to fulfil their role in protecting the Lebanese. I ask them to enforce stability in all the regions and take the arms from the streets, end the sit-in and bring back life to the capital and Lebanon.”

In response, army soldiers flooded into West Beirut to claim positions that had been seized a day earlier by Hezbollah, which faded back to its strongholds south and west of central Beirut.

The army won the respect of all Lebanon’s political factions after defeating an al-Qaeda-linked group holed up in a Palestinian refugee camp near Tripoli last year. It is viewed as the one Lebanese institution not beholden to partisan interests.

The opposition said it would abide by the army’s request and “cancel all shows of armed force” in the capital while vowing to continue acts of “civil disobedience,” which include blocking off the city’s main airport, a move that has halted flights in and out of the country.

Almost as quickly as they had seized control of West Beirut, Hezbollah and its allied Shiite militiamen disappeared, driving away in late-model sports utility vehicles without number plates.

The fighting, the worst internal unrest since the 1975-90 civil war, erupted last week after the Government said it was taking action against Hezbollah’s communications network and sacked the head of security at Beirut airport, who is close to the group.

Hezbollah called the move against its communications a declaration of war, saying the network had played a crucial role in its 34-day war with Israel in 2006.

The US welcomed the end of the fighting. “We hope to see that trend continue and Hezbollah stop its destabilising efforts there,” the White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.

Lebanon has been in political deadlock for 18 months over opposition demands for a greater say in Government.

(Los Angeles Times, Reuters, Agence France-Presse contributing to this report)