Lebanese Groups Clash In Villages Near Capital

BEIRUT, May 11 -- Clashes between government supporters and opponents erupted in a mountainous area just south of the Lebanese capital Sunday, raising concerns about a further escalation of violence in the country.

A tense calm fell over Beirut, where pro-government factions decided to stop fighting. Many roads across the city remained closed for the fifth consecutive day. But opposition gunmen could be seen in some areas, despite an announcement by the alliance to withdraw.

The crisis, in which 42 people have been killed, started last Wednesday when a labor union demonstration turned violent, leading to the closure by opposition supporters of main roads, including the highway to Beirut's international airport.

The protest, which had the backing of the Shiite opposition movement Hezbollah, was sparked by the government's reassignment of the airport's Shiite security chief and a move to dismantle Hezbollah's private telephone network -- decisions now being reconsidered.

Fierce clashes that followed in Beirut were contained when Walid Jumblatt, a Druze leader and government ally, and Sunni leader Saad Hariri decided to release their arms and offices to the army.

But violence soon moved to other regions. In the mountain villages of Kayfun, Alayh and Shuwayfat, Jumblatt supporters exchanged fire Sunday with pro-Hezbollah gunmen.

Jumblatt asked a rival to broker a deal with Hezbollah, but the resulting cease-fire was repeatedly breached in some of the mountain areas. As part of the deal, Jumblatt agreed that his party's weapons and offices in the region would be released to the army.

He also called on Hezbollah's secretary general, Hasan Nasrallah, to set aside "personal and political differences to facilitate the deployment of the army in the region."

Meanwhile, Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo decided to dispatch a high- level Arab League delegation to Beirut for mediation efforts aimed at ending the violence and resolving Lebanon's long-standing political crisis. The country has been in a state of political paralysis for more than a year as Hezbollah, which is supported by Syria and Iran, has demanded that the pro-Western government share power. A political settlement is being discussed.

In Tripoli, a coastal city north of Beirut, there was heavy fighting through the night Saturday between Sunni residents of the Bab al-Tebbaneh area and Alawite members of the Arab Democratic Party from the Jabal Mohsen area.

The fighting included rocket and machine-gun fire between supporters of Hariri's Future Movement and the Arab Democratic Party, a longtime ally of Syria and Hezbollah. With daylight Sunday, the army negotiated a cease-fire and deployed heavily.

In the streets of Tebbaneh, young men said they wanted to prove that the Sunnis are not the weakest link in Lebanon. But they said they also wanted to deal with some unfinished business from the 1980s, when Alawites and Sunnis fought fiercely.

"There are wounds that weren't well treated, and they are easy to open whenever the political situation arises," said Arabi Akkawi, the son of a street leader and local hero who was killed by Syrians.

But Rafaat Eid, son of the current leader of the Arab Democratic Party, said, "I'm not going to pay the price for what Hezbollah is doing in Beirut, and this is all wrong."