Army patrols expand in tense Beirut after curfew lifted

Soldiers reinforced patrols and checkpoints around Beirut today following a rare night-time curfew imposed by authorities seeking to quell escalating clashes between factions supporting the Western-backed government and Hezbollah protesters trying to bring it down.

The order to clear the streets – lifted just before dawn – came after rival groups turned a university campus into a battle zone yesterday with at least three people killed when mobs faced off with home-made clubs and stones.

Army officers reported snipers opening fire during the melee, but there was no clear indication of who may have ordered the gunmen to shoot.

Yet all sides recognised that the country could be stumbling dangerously toward civil war.

Government officials and Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, appealed for calm and allowed security forces to enforce the first blanket curfew in the Lebanese capital in 11 years.

Walid Jumblatt, a senior pro-government politician, called on the Hezbollah-allied speaker of parliament to reconvene politicians in an attempt to restore dialogue between the feuding sides.