65 Killed as Shia Clashes Intensify in Beirut

Rival Shia Muslim groups battled for control of Beirut’s heavily populated southern suburbs Saturday, exchanging rocket and machine-gun fire in a second day of fighting that police said has killed 65 people and forced hundreds to flee their homes.

Fighting had tapered off late Friday after Iranian Embassy officials negotiated a cease-fire between the warring Syrian-backed Amal militia and the Iranian-supported Hezbollah (Party of God) group.

But the battle resumed in full fury early Saturday as Amal gunmen tried to recapture the ground lost Friday, when a pre-dawn argument between gunmen from the two sides escalated into a rifle and rocket battle.

Police, in a new count of casualties late Saturday, said at least 130 people had been wounded since the fighting broke out early Friday.

Police said Amal militiamen firing jeep-mounted cannons, armor-piercing rockets and heavy automatic machine guns launched a counterattack aimed at the main Hezbollah stronghold in a low-income neighborhood. Police said the pro-Iranian group still appeared to hold the area late Saturday.

Premier Salim Hoss appealed to the two factions to stop the fighting.

“Have mercy on children, women, elderly and all the innocent who always alone pay the price for random killings,” Hoss said.

But Amal militia chief Nabih Berri blamed Hezbollah, saying the group had turned the area into a “haven for terrorism” in a statement that implicitly accused the organization of holding 18 kidnaped foreigners in the suburbs.