Five people have been wounded by gunfire in southern Beirut today after a night of tension following the funeral of an intelligence official killed by a car bomb.
The shooting occurred on the edge of Tariq al-Jadida, a Sunni Muslim district which neighbours Shi'ite suburbs in the south of the Lebanese capital. The army closed several roads in the area,.
Residents had earlier reported heavy overnight gunfire around Tariq al-Jadida between gunmen armed with rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.
Gunmen exchanged fire in southern districts of Beirut overnight after the state funeral of the assassinated Lebanese intelligence chief Brigadier General Wissam al-Hassan ended in violence when angry mourners broke away and tried to storm the offices of Prime Minister Najib Mikati.
Yesterday's clashes fed into a growing political crisis in Lebanon linked to the civil war in neighbouring Syria.
Opposition leaders and their supporters accuse Syria of being behind the car bombing that killed Brigadier General Wissam al-Hassan on Friday. They say Mr Mikati is too close to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Lebanese ally Hezbollah, which is part of Mr Mikati's government.
Thousands turned out in downtown Beirut's Martyrs' Square for Mr Hassan's funeral, which also served as a political rally. The violence erupted after an opposition leader demanded that Mr Mikati step down to pave the way for talks on the crisis.
A group marched to the prime minister's office, then overturned barriers, pulled apart barbed wire coils and threw steel rods, stones and bottle at soldiers and police.
Security forces responded by shooting into air and firing teargas, forcing the protesters to scatter.
Reuters