Street battles between pro- and anti-Syrian groups in Beirut overnight left two people dead, a security official said Monday, sparking concerns the conflict in Syria is increasingly spilling into Lebanon.
“During the night, groups of young men cut off the road in the Tareek el-Jdideh district and street battles followed,” the official said, requesting anonymity.
“Two people were killed and 18 were wounded,” he said, adding that machineguns had been fired and that the fighting had raged until about 3.00 am (2400 GMT).
An office housing a small pro-Syrian party in Tareek el-Jdideh, a mainly Sunni Muslim neighbourhood of west Beirut, was torched by followers of during the clashes and the facade of the building was riddled with bullets, an AFP correspondent said.
Several motorcycles and cars parked on the street below were burned.
The situation had returned to calm by daylight and students could be seen heading on foot to the nearby Arab University.
Tension however was palpable in the capital where residents fear a repeat of sectarian clashes similar to those that brought the country close to civil war in 2008.
“I've had enough ... of war,” said Amal Khattab, a 40-year-old teacher and mother of two who lives in Tareek el-Jdideh.
“My children were terrified last night,” she added, crying. “I can't spend another minute in this country.”
The latest fighting erupted hours after reports emerged that army troops had shot dead Sheikh Ahmad Abdul Wahid, a prominent anti-Syria Sunni cleric, when his convoy failed to stop at a checkpoint in north Lebanon on Sunday. Another cleric in the car was also killed.
Wahid's funeral was to be held later Monday in the northern region of Akkar where many businesses and shops were closed as a mark of respect.
His body was transported to his hometown of El Bireh draped in the Lebanese flag as well as the Syrian revolutionary flag and that of the anti-Syrian Future Movement of ex-premier Saad Hariri.
A judicial official said Monday that 21 soldiers, including three officers, were being questioned by military police in relation to the sheikh's death.
His killing followed a week of intermittent clashes between Sunnis hostile to the Syrian regime and Alawites who support Assad that left 10 people dead in the northern port city of Tripoli
The violence highlighted a deep split between Lebanon's political parties where the opposition backs those leading the uprising against Assad while a ruling coalition led by the powerful Shiite Hezbollah supports the regime.
The Sunni-led opposition has accused Assad of seeking to sow chaos in Lebanon in order to relieve the pressure on his embattled regime.
Lebanese newspapers on Monday carried ominous headlines warning of civil strife.
“Lebanon boils after sheikh killing” said the front-page headline in The Daily Star.
The English language paper warned in an editorial that the killing of the Muslim cleric on Sunday and other recent incidents had further inflamed tensions linked to the Syria unrest.
“These ingredients create a recipe for the possibility in Lebanon of civil or sectarian strife, the likelihood of which some have been warning about for a while now,” it said.
Reflecting mounting fears of an escalation, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait urged their citizens to avoid travel to Lebanon.
The US embassy in Lebanon also advised its citizens of the potential for continued demonstrations, road blockages and violence during the three days of mourning called for Wahid's death.
Derek Plumbly, the UN special coordinator for Lebanon, expressed concern over the latest violence and urged dialogue between the rival parties in Lebanon.
“Differences must be addressed through dialogue, not resort to violence,” he said in a statement.
Syria long held sway in Lebanon politics and had troops stationed in the country for 29 years until it was forced to withdraw them in 2005 following the assassination of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri.
It has denied accusations that it was involved in his killing.
More than 12 000 people, the majority of them civilians, have died in Syria since an anti-regime revolt broke out in March last year, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. - AFP