Pat Dollard | Young Americans

An uneasy calm settled over west Beirut on Saturday, a day after Hizbullah gunmen seized control of large swaths of the predominantly Sunni sector of the Lebanese capital.

Traffic and the sound of car horns resumed in neighborhoods 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.

At least 15 people were reported killed around Lebanon since Wednesday — the worst sectarian bloodshed since the 1975-1990 civil war.

The unrest led to urgent international appeals for calm as Arab foreign ministers prepared to hold an emergency meeting on the crisis on Sunday amid regional Sunni Muslim fears about Shiite Iran’s influence in Lebanon.

An Nahar daily on Saturday quoted an official source as saying “Hizbullah has staged a coup in Beirut similar to Hamas’ coup in Gaza.”

On Friday, the pro-government March 14 forces accused Hizbullah of attempting a coup so Syria and Iran can control Lebanon.

“Violence will not terrorize us, but it will increase our resolve,” Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said after the meeting of the coalition’s members at his residence in Maarab.

He said the Shiite group launched “an armed coup… that is counter to the constitution… and democratic principles.”

Hizbullah gunmen celebrated on Friday by firing into the air and flashing victory signs as they drove in convoys around west Beirut.

Violence also spread to Aramoun, Sidon, Aley and the Bekaa valley where seven people were killed and 22 wounded, according to An Nahar.

(AFP-AP-Naharnet)