16 die in Beirut as Lebanon crisis continues

Confusion and anger reigned on the streets of the Lebanese capital today as the country’s political and military leaders struggled to pull the country back from deepening civil conflict.

At least 16 people were killed in violence today, most of them victims of fighting between pro- and anti-Syrian political groups in northern Lebanon. Four days of skirmishes between supporters of the U.S.-backed government and Iranian-backed Hezbollah have left as many as 30 dead.

The Lebanese army, which has received hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. aid and equipment, moved cautiously to restore order without appearing to take sides.

“We are asking all groups to restore the situation to what it was before the beginning of the recent incidents,” the army said in a statement, calling on Lebanon’s kaleidoscope of armed groups to “avoid shows of force, remove armed men and open the roads.”

The Hezbollah-led opposition said it would abide by the army’s request and “cancel all shows of armed force” in the capital.

A day after taking over West Beirut, Hezbollah and its allied Shiite militiamen receded their strongholds south and west of the capital while vowing to continue acts of “civil disobedience,” which include blocking off the city’s main airport, a move that halted international flights in and out of the country.

Throughout the day, there were ominous signs of deepening violence, including the type of tit-for-tat sectarian attacks that characterize the Sunni-Shiite conflict in Iraq. A suspected Shiite gunman killed at least two Sunnis at a funeral this morning after the procession trashed his shop. Suspected Druze militiamen loyal to the government also allegedly tortured and shot dead two Shiite Hezbollah supporters southeast of the capital and dumped their corpses in front of a hospital.

By late afternoon, Lebanese army troops flooded the area’s abandoned streets, apparently under the orders of the beleaguered Sunni-led government.

“We request the army to fulfill their role in protecting the Lebanese,” Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said in a televised speech. “I ask them to enforce stability in all the regions and take the arms from the streets, end the sit-in and bring back life to the capital and Lebanon.”

The escalation of Lebanon’s months-long political standoff began Tuesday when the government outlawed Hezbollah’s private fiber-optic network and ordered the removal of its allied head of airport security. Hezbollah responded by launching a fiery offensive on the Lebanese capital, targeting the political offices and media outlets of the government’s Druze and Sunni backers and demanding that Siniora rescind the decision.

The government relented somewhat by placing the orders in the hands of the army, which has long affirmed its support for Hezbollah’s mission to resist what Lebanese describe as decades of Israeli aggression.

Today the army issued a statement saying it would effectively not enforce the government’s decisions.

“After placing the two decisions related to the security apparatus of the airport and the telecommunications network in the hands of the army, we’re treating them as if they were never issued by the government,” the statement said.

“The army command announces that it will keep the head of security at the airport and deal with the issue of the telephone network in a way not to harm the public interest and the security of the resistance,” the statement said.

 daragahi@latimes.com

Times special correspondents Raed Rafei, Davigh Karamanoukian and Nadeem Azzawi contributed to this report.