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Army intervenes in Beirut clashes ... struggled to contain the country's worst internal fighting since its bitter 15-year civil war.

While the capital seemed calm after four days of fighting killed 38 people, violence spread in hills to its east.

Earlier, troops had deployed in the northern city of Tripoli to end battles between Hezbollah sympathisers and supporters of the government.

Thousands fled their homes as running street battles raged overnight.

The violence has triggered fears of a return to Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.

Druze appeal

In the mountainous Druze stronghold east of Beirut on Sunday, gunmen supporting the Western-backed government clashed with militants allied to the Hezbollah-led opposition.

Pro-government Druze leader Walid Jumblatt appealed for calm, calling on his main Druze opponent - the Hezbollah-allied Talal Arslan - to negotiate an end to the violence and allow Lebanon's army to deploy throughout the hills.

"I tell my supporters that civil peace, coexistence and stopping war and destruction are more important than any other consideration," Mr Jumblatt told the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation.

There is clearly a fear that unless the army moves in, Hezbollah and its allies will storm the area and assume control, just as they did during the week in Beirut, says the BBC's Jim Muir in the Lebanese capital.

On Saturday, Hezbollah agreed to pull its fighters off the streets of Muslim western Beirut after the army overturned government measures aimed at curbing the group.

But many roads remain blocked, including the airport road, as the Iranian-backed Shia group continues its campaign of civil disobedience.

Burning buildings

Arab foreign ministers are currently holding an emergency meeting on the crisis in the Egyptian capital Cairo.

In Tripoli, Sunni supporters of the government have reportedly been fighting members of an Alawite sect loyal to Hezbollah with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.

About 7,000 people have fled from the city's Bab al-Tebbaneh district, which marks the front line, reports said.

Earlier, pro-government demonstrators burned the offices of the pro-Syrian Baath Party.

They stamped on posters of Syrian President Bashar Assad and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

They could also be seen throwing furniture and files from the Baath offices and a local opposition politician's office.

The confrontation in Beirut eased off after the army offered a face-saving compromise that allowed the government to back down from two controversial decisions.

The government had moved to shut down Hezbollah's telecoms network and remove the chief of security at Beirut airport for alleged sympathies with the guerrillas.

The army has essentially shelved both measures after they triggered a devastating Hezbollah onslaught.

Managing to retain its unity and the respect of both sides, the army has emerged as the arbiter in the current crisis, our correspondent says.

For the past 16 months, Lebanon has locked in political stalemate between the ruling coalition and Hezbollah-led opposition over the make-up of the government.

The country has been without a president since late 2007, although there is general consensus that the head of the army, Gen Michel Sleiman, would make the best compromise candidate.

(BBC)

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