BEIRUT: Heavily armed Hezbollah fighters seized control of large parts of west Beirut on Friday, patrolling the deserted streets in a show of force that underscored the Shiite militia's refusal to back down in its escalating confrontation with the American-backed government.
Hezbollah allies also forced a government-allied satellite television station off the air and burned the offices of its newspaper affiliate, as Sunni fighters loyal to the government largely melted away, outnumbered and outgunned, during a third day of armed clashes here.
Those humiliating blows made clearer than ever the power of Hezbollah and its allies, which have links with Iran and Syria, over the government majority in the political stalemate that has crippled Lebanon for 17 months.
By Friday afternoon, Hezbollah fighters and paramilitaries were riding joyfully through west Beirut in trucks and cars and on scooters, shouting and firing weapons into the air in a victory celebration.
The government majority issued an urgent appeal for help from other nations Friday evening, calling Hezbollah's actions an "armed coup" on Lebanon and its democratic system using "weapons sent by Tehran."
The gun battles of the past three days have pitted Sunni Muslims against Shiites, with Lebanon's divided Christians - including Michel Aoun, the former general who is allied with Hezbollah - sitting out the conflict. The clashes appeared to be exacerbating sectarian tensions between Muslims here, in an ominous echo of the civil conflict in Iraq.
The Lebanese Army - the one institution viewed as neutral in the country's bitter political struggle - has stood by during the clashes, unwilling to take sides. Hezbollah and its allies handed control of some government offices to the army on Friday after commandeering them, hoping to avoid being seen as a conquering force.
Three days of street battles here have left at least 11 people dead and 20 wounded, after the government majority provoked a confrontation Tuesday by challenging Hezbollah's telecommunications network.
It was unclear what the developments would mean for Lebanon's political future. For now, they seemed only to lead to stalemate and a deepening of the country's troubles. For 17 months, Lebanon has had a political crisis between the Hezbollah-led opposition and the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, who is backed by the West and Saudi Arabia. The standoff has left the country without a president since November.
The clashes began Wednesday, a day after the government decided to take steps against Hezbollah's telephone network. Lebanese officials consider the network a violation of the country's sovereignty. The fighting escalated Thursday, after Hezbollah's leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, said the government's decision was "a declaration of war."
But he said Hezbollah would back down if the Sunni forces left the streets and the government reversed its decision on the telephone network.
After Nasrallah's speech, Saad Hariri, leader of the anti-Syrian majority in Parliament, proposed a deal to end the fighting and called the government's decision a misunderstanding.
Hariri said any move on the network should be left up to the army command, and he urged the immediate election of the army commander, General Michel Suleiman, as president and the convening of a national dialogue among the rival factions.
Al Manar television, which is run by Hezbollah, said Thursday night that the group had rejected Hariri's proposal. The station cited a pro-Hezbollah official, who said the group and its allies would reject any ideas for ending the conflict that were not proposed by Nasrallah.
Still, on Friday, the Shiite militias began to open up roads that had been blocked since a general strike began Tuesday, including allowing cars through to the airport, and seemed to be waiting for the government to reverse its decision on the telephone network.
Hezbollah has previously rejected proposals for electing a president before there is an agreement on a new cabinet and a new election law.
"The government's proposal did not offer anything new on how to solve the political crisis," said Talal Atrissi, a political sociology professor at the Lebanese University. "So one of the scenarios would be to continue fighting until either the government publicly backs off or the opposition agrees to hold dialogue."
Hariri, a Sunni, also urged Hezbollah to lift what he called its siege of Beirut.
"My appeal to you and to myself as well, the appeal of all Lebanon, is to stop the slide toward civil war, to stop the language of arms and lawlessness," Hariri said in a televised speech.
Nasrallah, speaking at a news conference via a video link, said the telephone network, which connects Hezbollah's officials, military commanders and emplacements, was a vital part of the group's military infrastructure.
"We have said before that we will cut the hands that will target the weapons of the resistance," he said. "Today is the day to fulfill this promise."
The government's decision, he added, "is first of all a declaration of war and the launching of war by the government against the resistance and its weapons for the benefit of America and Israel."
Minutes after Nasrallah's speech, armed men in mixed Sunni-Shiite neighborhoods on the west side of Beirut engaged in heavy fighting using automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. The army raced in armored personnel carriers from one neighborhood to another, with soldiers shooting in the air to try to stop the fighting.
By late Thursday, masked gunmen were roaming the streets with walkie-talkies. Some were seen shooting out streetlights to keep rooftop snipers from directing their fire.
Many residents along Corniche Mazraa, a major highway that has become a demarcation line between the factions, were seen leaving their houses for safer areas. Others lined up in supermarkets, stocking up on food supplies.
Several parts of the city were shut down, and roads were blocked by burning tires and garbage cans set on fire.
Fighting also broke out in the Bekaa Valley, to the east, where government and Hezbollah supporters blocked roads and exchanged gunfire.
