May 11 (Bloomberg) -- Hezbollah, Lebanon's powerful Shiite Muslim party and militia, handed sections of Beirut to the Lebanese army after forcing pro-Western Prime Minister Fouad Siniora to abandon efforts to curb its military activities.

Hezbollah and its allied gunmen still remained in side streets in the central Hamra district of downtown Beirut today. Dirt and debris barricades blocked roads; traffic throughout the city was light, according to the Naharnet Internet news site.

Calm returned a day after Siniora placed the implementation of two government decisions in the army's hands: to shut down Hezbollah's electronic surveillance operation at Beirut's international airport and a vast land-line telephone network. The military, in a statement, overturned the government's plans. It reinstated the head of airport security fired over the existence of the spy system and left the phone lines under Hezbollah's control.

``This was probably an inevitable moment, when Hezbollah felt it had to show the government the real balance of power between them,'' Rami Khoury, director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut, wrote in Lebanon's Daily Star newspaper.

By occupying parts of the Lebanese capital for five days, Hezbollah forced Siniora to back down over a key issue of contention -- whether the Shiite party ought to be permitted to maintain a separate militia and military structure. Under United Nations Security Council resolution 1559, passed in 2004, all such militias were supposed to be disbanded.

Power Struggle

Hezbollah, an ally of Iran and Syria, and Siniora, backed by the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other Arab allies, have been locked in a power struggle for 18 months. Hezbollah, which counts the Shiite Amal movement and a Christian party in its bloc, is demanding a veto over government decisions.

Hezbollah's drive coincided with efforts by other U.S. adversaries in the Middle East to gain influence, if not outright power.

In the Palestinian territories, Hamas, an Islamic party that declines to recognize Israel, controls the Gaza Strip to the exclusion of U.S.-backed President Mahmoud Abbas, who rules the West Bank. In Iraq, militias loyal to Moqtada Al-Sadr, an anti-U.S. Shiite cleric, are doing battle both with American troops and Iraqi government forces.

Though calm returned to Beirut, the international airport remained shut. Naharnet reported fighting between pro-government and opposition militias in the northern city of Tripoli.

Sunni Districts

The Hezbollah-led takeover of western Beirut included areas largely populated by Sunni Muslims, key backers of Siniora's Sunni, Christian and Druze coalition. Gunmen torched the offices of Al-Mustaqbal, a newspaper owned by Saad Hariri, a pro- government Sunni leader. Hezbollah fought a 33-day war with Israel in 2006; the U.S. regards it as a terrorist organization.

Hezbollah attacked west Beirut on May 7 after the government announced the discovery of the Shiite party's surveillance network at Beirut's airport. Siniora fired the head of airport security and threatened to dismantle Hezbollah's land-line telephone network.

The army stood by during the takeover. About 44 civilians died in fighting in Beirut, in mountains to the east and in north Lebanon, according to reports by media such as Al-Jazeera, the pan-Arab satellite news channel.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said he had the right to maintain the communications and spy networks as part of his group's defensive preparation against Israel. ``The hand that touches the weapons of the resistance will be cut off,'' Nasrallah said in a televised speech May 8. He called the government's actions at the airport a ``declaration of war.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel Williams in Rome at dwilliams41@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: May 11, 2008 07:11 EDT