Three killed as general strike hits Lebanon

A HEZBOLLAH-LED general strike aimed at toppling Lebanon's western-backed government led to violent clashes yesterday in which three people were killed and more than 100 others wounded.

With neither side showing any sign of blinking in a power struggle that has ramifications beyond Lebanon's borders, fears deepened for the stability of a country still scarred by the 1975 to 1990 civil war.

Black smoke from burning tyres used to block major roads billowed over Beirut and other cities as much of Lebanon was paralysed by what was meant to be a peaceful work stoppage.

But 45 people, many of them in the Christian towns of Byblos and Halba, were wounded by scattered gunfire between rival factions. Opposition protesters and government supporters also confronted each other in bouts of stone-throwing and fighting.

"This government only understands force and today is only a small lesson," protester Jamil Wahb said in the Shiite southern suburbs.

The unrest comes at a sensitive time for the government. International donors meet in Paris tomorrow hoping to raise $5 billion in aid and loans to help rebuild Lebanon after last summer's devastating war between Israel and Hezbollah.

The US yesterday pledged to make a "substantial long-term financial contribution" as it reiterated its support for the government of prime minister Fuad Siniora. The assistance would be designed to bolster Mr Siniora against those trying to "overturn a democratically elected government through ... mobs", said Nicholas Burns, US under-secretary of state for political affairs.

But it was unclear whether Mr Siniora would even be able to get to the Paris conference. Blazing roadblocks cut off the road to Beirut airport, forcing the cancellation of several flights to the region and Europe. Mr Siniora has been marooned in his Beirut office, surrounded by barbed wire and troops, while opposition activists have been camped out nearby in a two-month-old, peaceful sit-in protest.

Hezbollah feels entitled to political dividends from what it sees as its victory over Israel last summer. But it had urged a peaceful strike, keen not to be accused of resorting to violence that could revive the long civil war. Hezbollah accuses the government of being a lackey of the West - and is in return branded a cat's paw of Iran.

Thousands of army troops and police were deployed across the country but mostly watched the demonstrators from a distance, with the army command apparently not wanting to be seen as taking sides.

But troops did intercede at flashpoints, firing shots into the air, to head off clashes in mixed areas between civilian supporters of the rival sides.