Hezbollah Clash With Sunni Group Close to Central Beirut Leaves Two Dead

At least two people were killed near Beirut and an unspecified number were wounded late today when clashes erupted between followers of the Shiite Hezbollah movement and backers of a Sunni Muslim group.

“There are two dead, and most probably from Hezbollah,” Brigadier Saleh Haj Suleiman of the Lebanese army said in a telephone interview. “There was some kind of a disagreement which developed between the Islamic Charitable Projects and Hezbollah and there are wounded from both sides.”

The army has cordoned off the area to restore calm. The clashes took place in Burj Abu Haidar near central Beirut. Local Lebanese media said rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machineguns were used.

Hezbollah spokesman Ibrahim el-Moussawi said he had no details when contacted by telephone today. Hezbollah is listed as a terrorist group by the U.S. and Israel.

To contact the reporter on this story: Massoud A. Derhally in Beirut at mderhally@bloomberg.net

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