Heated clashes erupt in Beirut

BEIRUT (AFP) - Fierce armed clashes erupted on Thursday in west Beirut between supporters of Lebanon's Western-backed government and the Hezbollah-led opposition, a security official told AFP.

The official said the clashes had erupted in several mixed Sunni and Shiite Muslim neighborhoods, with militants using rocket-propelled grenades, assault rifles and machine guns.

There were no reports of casualties, he said.

Television footage showed armed gunmen in the Corniche al-Mazraa and Ras An-Nabaa districts firing at each other shortly after a press conference by Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on the latest escalation in the country's protracted political crisis.

Beirut's streets were virtually deserted as residents, fearing the possibility of a full-blown sectarian conflict, stayed indoors.

The violence began Wednesday during what was to be a general strike over mounting prices and wage demands. The strike quickly took on a sectarian tone as Sunni and Shiite militants clashed in various neighborhoods, setting tyres on fire and shutting down the highway leading to the airport.

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