BEIRUT—Iranian-backed Hezbollah tightened its grip on Beirut airport on Thursday, piling pressure on Lebanon's U.S.-supported government on the second day of a protest campaign that has triggered gun battles.
Supporters of Hezbollah and its allies blocked roads leading to the airport—Lebanon's only air link to the outside world—and other main streets, paralysing much of the city.
Middle East Airlines, the national carrier, suspended departures to "await positive developments".
Sporadic gun battles erupted between Hezbollah supporters and pro-government loyalists in two villages in the Bekaa Valley in the east of the country, wounding three people, security sources said. Similar clashes took place in Beirut on Wednesday.
The confrontations have aggravated the country's worst internal crisis since the 1975-90 civil war and exacerbated sectarian tension between Sunnis loyal to the government and Shi'ites who support the opposition.
The army said the situation threatened its unity. "The continuation of the situation ... harms the unity of the military establishment," the army said in a statement.
BEIRUT—Lebanon's army warned on Thursday that a continuation of the country's crisis would threaten its unity.
"The continuation of the situation ... harms the unity of the military establishment," an army statement said.
The fragmentation of the army along sectarian lines in 1976 was a key moment in Lebanon's total collapse into militia rule.
Pro-government activists blocked a highway linking Beirut to the mainly Shi'ite south with burning tyres and mounds of earth and set up a barricade on the main road to the border with Syria—a strong backer of Hezbollah.
An opposition source, declining to be identified, said protests would go on until the government rescinded decisions affecting Hezbollah, including action against a telecommunications network operated by the group. Government sources ruled that out.
"It's double jeopardy: the cabinet can't retreat or it is practically finished and can't go through with it to the end because of the balance of power on the ground," columnist Rafik Khouri wrote in the newspaper al-Anwar.
"And Hezbollah can't step back from its position because it would be agreeing to getting its wings clipped and can't go all the way because of the dangers sectarian strife poses for everyone."
Hezbollah said its leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, would give a news conference at 4 p.m. (1300 GMT) to discuss the crisis.
Sunni-Shi'ite Violence
Hezbollah has led a political campaign for almost 18 months against Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's anti-Syrian cabinet. Friction has already led to bouts of violence.
The group was the only Lebanese faction allowed to keep its weapons after the civil war, to fight Israeli forces occupying the south. Israel withdrew in 2000 and the fate of Hezbollah's weapons is at the heart of the political crisis.
Wednesday's violence quickly took on a sectarian tone with clashes in mixed Shi'ite and Sunni neighbourhoods. At least 10 people were wounded.
Political sources said army commander General Michel Suleiman had rejected a government idea to declare a state of emergency and impose a curfew. Siniora had told Future News television his cabinet was considering such a move.
Tension between the government and Hezbollah rose sharply on Tuesday when the cabinet said the group's communications network was "an attack on the sovereignty of the state". Hezbollah said it was part of its security apparatus and had played an important role in its war with Israel in 2006.
Hezbollah, Lebanon's most influential Shi'ite faction, was angered by government allegations it was spying on the airport and by the cabinet's decision to remove the head of airport security, a figure close to the opposition, from his post.
Hezbollah has deemed Siniora's cabinet illegitimate since its Shi'ite ministers resigned in 2006 after he rejected demands for veto power against government decisions.
The crisis has paralysed much of the government and left Lebanon without a president for five months.
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