Lebanese army vows to step in

Lebanon's army has said it will use force to stop fighting between rival factions.

Clashes between the Syria-backed Islamist group Hezbollah, forces loyal to the anti-Syrian government and members of the Druze minority who support each side have claimed at least 81 lives.

About 250 people have also been wounded as the violence spread from the capital Beirut across the country and sucked in militants from across Lebanon's ethnic divide.

The Lebanese military said in a statement: "Army units will halt violations in accordance with the law, even if that leads to the use of force."

The order was due to be implemented in the early hours of Tuesday.

Hezbollah and its pro-Syrian allies swept through Beirut and hills to the east in a series of dramatic victories since fighting broke out on May 7.

In the northern city of Tripoli, pro-government Sunni Muslim gunmen and militiamen allied to Hezbollah guerrillas fought on Monday.

The upheaval began when Iran-backed Hezbollah and its allies overran the strongholds of their Sunni political foes in Beirut last week.

Hezbollah's success has dealt a blow to the ruling Sunni-led coalition and its main patron, the United States, which has cast the country as a fragile democracy endangered by the ambitions of Hezbollah and its Iranian and Syrian backers.

US President George W Bush is due to meet Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora in Egypt on Sunday.

A precarious calm now prevails in Beirut, where politicians prepared to meet Arab League mediators.

They will try to quell the violence and tackle the political crisis by securing the election of army commander General Michel Suleiman as president.

Both sides have agreed on Suleiman as president but could not strike a deal over a new government and a law for next year's parliamentary election.

Hezbollah's grab for strategic locations has increased pressure on the government to accept its terms.

© Independent Television News Limited 2008. All rights reserved.

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