Beirut: The number of people killed in the fierce sectarian fighting rocking Lebanon rose to 18 overnight, a security official said today, as an uneasy calm settled over west Beirut.

Residents ventured out today and businesses opened following the deadly gunbattles between supporters of the Western-backed government and Hezbollah-led opposition militants who overran the western sector of the capital yesterday.

"Two were killed in clashes between Druze opposition and government supporters in Aley (in the mountains east of Beirut)," the official said.

Five people were also killed yesterday in different areas of the country including two women killed in firefights in the southern port city of Sidon and in the Bekaa Valley, security officials said.

The husband of the Sidon woman was also killed. In Beirut itself, 11 people were killed as the western part of the capital fell under the control of the Shiite Muslim militant group Hezbollah in the worst sectarian fighting since the 1975-1990 civil war.

But today, traffic and the sound of car horns resumed in neighbourhoods that had been largely deserted since Thursday and cleaning crews cleared the debris from streets, some littered with bullet casings.

"This is the first time I leave my home since Thursday night," said Samia, as she walked to work at a bank in the Hamra district. "But I think this calm is only temporary."

The army was still out in full force and some streets remained blocked.
Source : PTI