Calm has returned to the streets of Lebanon’s capital after troops launched a major security operation to quell fighting touched off by the assassination of a top anti-Syrian intelligence chief.

Four people, including a top military general, were killed and several others injured when a large explosion rocked a Christian suburb east of the Lebanese capital, Beirut, early today, the state-run news agency said.

Police and army troops in Lebanon sealed off downtown Beirut today as the parliament tried to meet to elect a new head of state.

Lebanese leaders today pledged to press ahead with a divisive election for president, to be held in Parliament in the coming days, despite the car bombing assassination of an anti-Syrian MP.

A powerful bomb killed a pro-government parliament member and four others today in a Christian suburb east of the Lebanese capital Beirut, security officials said.