At least seven people were killed and dozens wounded in gun battles in Lebanese cities yesterday, in further unrest linked to the conflict in Syria.
Clashes in Beirut and Tripoli have heightened fears Syria's civil war is spreading into Lebanon, pitting local allies and opponents of Syrian president Bashar al Assad against each other.
The Lebanese army promised decisive action to quell the violence, which was touched off by the assassination of a senior intelligence officer last week.
That killing has plunged the country into a political crisis and the army command urged party leaders to be cautious in their public statements so as not to inflame passions further.
It issued the warning after troops and gunmen exchanged fire in Beirut's southern suburbs, while protesters blocked roads with burning tyres.
Many politicians have accused Syria of being behind the killing of Brigadier General Wissam al Hassan, an intelligence chief opposed to the Syrian leadership, who was blown up by a car bomb in central Beirut on Friday.
Opposition leaders want Prime Minister Najib Mikati to resign, saying he is too close to Mr Assad and his Lebanese militant ally Hezbollah, which is part of Mr Mikati's government.
The worst of the clashes took place in the northern port of Tripoli, scene of previous fighting between Sunni Muslims backing the Syrian insurgents and Alawites sympathetic to Mr Assad.
Six people were killed and 50 wounded in fighting between the Sunni district of Tabbaneh and the Alawite Jebel Mohsen. Among the victims was a nine-year-old girl shot by a sniper.
Fighting in Beirut occurred on the edge of Tariq al Jadida, a Sunni Muslim district near Shi'ite Muslim suburbs. Locals reported heavy gunfire between gunmen armed with rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.
Soldiers killed one gunman in Tariq al Jadida, the army said, a Palestinian from a refugee camp who had shot at them.
The violence escalated on Sunday after thousands of people turned out in Beirut's Martyrs' Square for the funeral of Mr Hassan, who was buried with full state honours in an emotionally charged ceremony.
As the funeral ended, hundreds of opposition supporters broke away and tried to storm the nearby government offices, prompting security forces to fire tear gas and shots in the air to repulse them.
The army command said: "We will take decisive measures, especially in areas with rising religious and sectarian tensions, to prevent Lebanon being transformed again into a place for regional settling of scores, and to prevent the assassination of the martyr Wissam al Hassan being used to assassinate a whole country."
Troops in full combat gear and armoured personnel carriers stood guard at traffic inter-sections and government offices, with barbed wire and concrete blocks protecting buildings.
Beirut was noticeably quiet as people stayed at home because they feared being caught in more violence. Many shops, offices and restaurants were shut or empty and the area was free of its normal traffic chaos.
Mr Mikati offered to resign at the weekend to make way for a government of national unity, but Lebanese President Michel Suleiman persuaded him to stay in office to allow time for talks on a way out of the political crisis.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article