BEIRUT - Hezbollah gunmen have seized several parts of Lebanon’s capital from Sunni fighters loyal to the country’ Western-backed government, in clashes that left at least 10 people dead.Fighters from the Shi’ite militant group Hezbollah also forced the pro-government television station Future Movement off the air Friday and attacked an affiliated newspaper.

The station is owned by Saad al-Hariri, a leader of Lebanon’s governing coalition. A rocket also slammed into the perimeter fence of his west Beirut home without causing injuries.

Saudi Arabia called Friday for an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers to discuss the fighting that erupted in Lebanon Wednesday.

Hezbollah’s al-Manar television has quoted an opposition source as rejecting ideas for ending the conflict other than those proposed by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

The fighting escalated Thursday after Nasrallah called the Lebanese government’s crackdown on his group a “declaration of war.”

The United States and the United Nations have both expressed concern about the violence.

Lebanon has been in a political stalemate since last year, with the ruling coalition and the opposition unable to pick a new head of state and form a unity government.

Parliament is scheduled to vote next week (May 13th) for the country’s new president. It will be the 19th time parliament will try to vote for a successor to former pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud, whose term expired in November.

Source:  VOA News