May 9 (Bloomberg) -- Gun battles raged across western and southern Beirut, leaving 10 people dead, as fighters from the Shiite group Hezbollah pressed their party's challenge to Lebanon's pro-Western government.

Masked bands of Shiite gunmen were shown by television networks as they roamed neighborhoods dominated by Sunni Muslims, who largely back Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's administration.

The army was deployed in parts of the capital to control the unrest. In addition to the deaths in Beirut in three days of violence, five civilians were hurt as fighting erupted in the Bekaa Valley, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.

``What's going on defies logic,'' Army Brigadier Saleh Haj Suleiman said today in a phone interview from Beirut. ``The army is in control of Beirut, but there is sporadic gunfire and wherever there are clashes the army intervenes to try and calm the situation down.''

The crisis may intensify regional rivalries. Siniora's government is financially and militarily supported by the U.S., which considers Hezbollah a terrorist organization. Hezbollah is backed by Iran and Syria.

U.S. Republican presidential contender John McCain said today that the Bush administration should work immediately with the United Nations and Lebanon's neighbors to defuse the tensions. The Arizona senator said at a press conference in Columbia, South Carolina, that pressure should be brought on Syria, which he said is trying to ``gain control of Lebanon.''

Sectarian Strife

Hezbollah has been trying to oust the Siniora government for 18 months, since the militant Islamic group's lawmakers walked out of the cabinet after demanding veto powers over decisions.

This week's unrest has been the most violent, as the political standoff spilled over into sectarian conflict. Some of the buildings scarred by bullets from this week's fighting still bear marks from Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.

The government dismissed reports by Lebanese news organizations favorable to Hezbollah or other opposition groups that Siniora's government was about to collapse.

``There is no resignation, no one in this government is resigning,'' Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh said today in a phone interview from Beirut.

Not Civil War

An adviser to Siniora, Mohammad Shateh, said in a phone interview from Beirut today that, while ``it's a dangerous situation,'' it isn't ``civil war right now.''

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon told reporters in Nicosia, Cyprus, today that France is ``very concerned that what's happening could be the start of a chain of events that leads to a civil war.''

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner is telephoning Lebanese leaders, including Siniora, to try to promote a resumption of talks based on an initiative of the Arab League, Fillon said.

As many as 20 people were wounded in fighting in Beirut, Major General Ashraf Reefi, head of Lebanon's security forces, said in a phone interview from the city.

Hezbollah fighters took up positions in streets near the residences of Saad Hariri, a leader of the coalition that backs Siniora, and Walid Jumblatt, political leader of the Druze minority, a Hariri spokesman said today on condition of anonymity because of fear of reprisal. Both men were at home, he said in a phone interview. A rocket-propelled grenade hit a wall of Hariri's compound without causing injuries, the spokesman said.

Offices on Fire

Gunmen attacked Hariri's al-Mustaqbal newspaper, said Nadim Munla, general manager of Future TV, a station also owned by Hariri. Lebanese television and Arab satellite channels showed the newspaper offices on fire. Munla said Hezbollah had threatened to attack Future TV and that the station, which was off the air, was under army control.

The violence broke out May 7 after the government threatened to dismantle a Hezbollah telecommunications network discovered at Beirut's international airport and fired the head of airport security. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, whose group fought a 33-day war against Israel in 2006, defended the installation of the once-secret surveillance system, saying it was needed to protect Lebanon from Israeli invasion.

``The hand that touches the weapons of the resistance will be cut off,'' Nasrallah said in a televised speech yesterday. He called the government's actions at the airport a ``declaration of war.''

Bolstering Forces

Lebanon's state-owned National News Agency reported that Israel was bolstering its forces near the border with Lebanon. Israel's military said there was often troop activity in the area and that ``nothing out of the ordinary was taking place today,'' according to a statement read by a spokeswoman.

The Lebanese news agency also said Beirut's port was closed and was under army control.

``Lebanon's fate in part is in the hands of others,'' said Oussama Safa, director of Beirut's Lebanese Center for Policy Studies, in a telephone interview.

The U.S. ``is deeply concerned about the ongoing violence in Lebanon,'' Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a statement today. ``Backed by Syria and Iran, Hezbollah and its allies are killing and injuring fellow citizens, undermining the legitimate authority of the Lebanese government and the institutions of the Lebanese state.''

Emergency Meeting

Amr Moussa, the head of the Arab League, met with Rice in Washington yesterday ahead of an emergency meeting of Arab League members scheduled for May 11, a senior State Department official told reporters in Washington.

Rice spoke by phone today with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal, France's Kouchner and Lebanon's Siniora. The UN is considering a meeting early next week, the official said.

The U.S. may increase aid to the Siniora government. It has given $1.3 billion in assistance to Lebanon since the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel, the official said. The State Department is also reviewing contingency plans in case it becomes necessary to evacuate the U.S. embassy in Beirut or U.S. citizens in Lebanon, who total about 50,000, the U.S. official said.

Russia, a member of the so-called Quartet promoting Middle East peace and a Syrian ally, called today for the Arab League to continue its efforts to end Lebanon's political crisis.

Steps must be taken ``to get the fighters off the streets, regardless of what political group they belong to,'' the Russian Foreign Ministry's acting spokesman, Boris Malakhov, said in a statement on the ministry Web site.

Defense Needs

Under UN Security Council Resolution 1559, passed in 2004, Hezbollah is supposed to disarm. It has refused, citing defense needs.

Hezbollah is backed by a Christian political faction led by a former prime minister and army general, Michel Aoun. Siniora draws support from parties representing Sunnis, Christians and Lebanon's Druze minority. His government says it wants to put an end to Hezbollah's armed ``state-within-a-state.''

To contact the reporters on this story: Massoud A. Derhally in Amman, Jordan, at mderhally@bloomberg.net; Maher Chmaytelli in Cyprus at mchmaytelli@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: May 9, 2008 17:39 EDT