ds from Sunni foes loyal to the U.S.-backed government on Friday, in street battles that left 11 dead, security officials said. In a sign of the collapse of the pro-government forces in the face of the onslaught by the Iranian-backed Shiite Hezbollah and Amal groups in the Lebanese capital's Muslim sector, the TV station of top Sunni politician Saad Hariri's Future Movement was forced off the air.
The offices of the affiliated al-Mustaqbal newspaper in the coastal neighborhood of Ramlet el-Bayda were also set on fire by gunmen and white smoke could be seen billowing from the building. The army subsequently took over the area and firefighters extinguished the blaze.
Lebanese troops were also evacuating the staff of the TV station's terrestrial and satellite studios in the Kantari area of western Beirut, said Nadim Mounla, the station's chief. He said gunmen massed near the station and "asked through the army to close down or it will be destroyed."
A rocket-propelled grenade hit the fence of the heavily protected residence of Hariri in the neighborhood of Koreitem in Muslim western Beirut, security officials said. Hariri is believed to be in the residence.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press, said Friday a total of 11 people have been killed and more than 20 wounded. On Thursday, they had reported four killed and eight wounded, suggesting most of the casualties occurred in clashes overnight.
The crackle of gunfire and occasional explosions continued to reverberate across the western, largely Muslim, sector of the city.
Shiite gunmen roamed unopposed through the deserted streets of neighborhoods once dominated by supporters of Hariri and the government. Dozens of cars and shops had been damaged by the fighting.
"We entered Karakol Druse. There is no Jumblatt and no Hariri here," a Shiite gunman told Associated Press Television News, referring to the top Sunni leader and his ally, Druse leader Walid Jumblatt.
"We entered the neighborhood. They threw away their weapons and ran," said another gunman as one of his colleagues tore down a poster of Hariri.The scenes were a grim reminder of Lebanon's devastating 1975-90 civil war in which 150,000 were killed and parts of the city wrecked as it was carved into warring sectarian enclaves.
