Hezbollah supporters burn tyres and barricades on the main road leading to Beirut's International airport. Photo / Reuters
Hezbollah supporters burn tyres and barricades on the main road leading to Beirut's International airport. Photo / Reuters
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Lebanese security officials say five more people have been killed in clashes between pro- and anti-government supporters outside the capital of Beirut.
The latest deaths raise to 20 the number killed since violence erupted on Wednesday in Beirut and around the country between the Hezbollah-led opposition and supportersof the government.
Four of those killed were opposition backers who clashed with supporters of anti-Syrian Druse leader Walid Jumblatt in the mountain town of Aley, east of Beirut, on Friday night.
Another civilian died in clashes in the southern city of Sidon.
The militant Hezbollah group and their allies in the opposition took control of large parts of predominantly Muslim west Beirut after routing Sunnis and Druse loyal to the government.
The Iranian-backed Hezbollah group took control of the Muslim half of Beirut on Friday in what the US-backed governing coalition called "an armed and bloody coup".
The US pointed to Hezbollah's links with Tehran and Damascus and said it was talking with other powers about taking measures against "those responsible for the violence".
The violence follows 17 months of political deadlock between the Hezbollah-led opposition, which demands more say in government, and the ruling coalition.
The conflict has paralysed the country and left it without a president. It is Lebanon's worst internal strife since the 1975-90 civil war.
In scenes reminiscent of that war, men with rifles roamed the streets amid smashed cars and smouldering buildings.
The anti-Syria ruling coalition said the "coup" was aimed at increasing Iran's influence and restoring that of Syria, which was forced to withdraw troops from Lebanon in 2005.
