TRIPOLI, LEBANON -- Lebanon's cities were calm yesterday for the first time in a week as the army took control of the streets, easing a violent crisis that still threatens to tip the country into civil war.

After standing aside through six days of bloody clashes that saw the Hezbollah-led opposition fighters rout pro-government forces, the army at last put itself between the two sides, promising to use force against any armed factions that remained in the streets.

The violence, some of the worst since the country's 1975-1990 civil war, has left at least 81 people dead and about 250 injured since it began last Wednesday.

Even after pulling its armed men off the streets, the opposition, which claims to represent a majority of Lebanese, has continued to blockade Beirut's airport, seaport and several main roads. It promises to leave the barricades in place until Mr. Siniora and his allies give in to demands, which include the establishment of a new government over which the opposition would have veto power.

But while the urban warfare appeared to be over, at least for the time being, a key figure in the Western-backed government struck a defiant note, saying Beirut would not give in to Hezbollah and its allies in Iran and Syria. "They will not be able to obtain [my] signature ... on a deed to surrender to the Iranian and Syrian regimes," said Saad Hariri, the leader of the country's Sunni Muslim community. His speech was broadcast on pro-government Future Television, which was back on the air five days after Hezbollah fighters forced it to stop broadcasting.

One of his key allies went further, and questioned whether co-existence was still possible in the country between the pro-government factions, who want to see Lebanon as a Western-friendly business hub, and Hezbollah, which wants the country to stand alongside Iran and Syria against Israel and the United States.

"There is no way to co-habitate with Hezbollah, politically speaking," said Mustafa Allouche, who leads Mr. Hariri's Future Party in Tripoli, Lebanon's second largest city.

Until yesterday, this balmy Mediterranean Sea port had been the scene of daily violence between Sunni and Shia gunmen.

In an interview here, Mr. Allouche said that although the crisis appeared to be easing, angry youths on the street were likely to continue violently taking matters into their own hands. He worried that moderate Sunni leaders such as Mr. Hariri and Prime Minister Fouad Siniora would lose support to extremist, al-Qaeda-type elements and the country would spiral into sectarian conflict.

A few blocks away from Mr. Allouche's elegantly furnished apartment in the city centre, angry Sunni youths stared up the hill into Jebel Mohsen, an Allawite Shia neighbourhood that has seen fierce clashes that only ended at dawn yesterday morning. "We want war, we want to finish them," a young Sunni man with thick tattoo-covered arms said, grinning wildly.

"These are children who have never seen civil war," sighed Khalil al-Rifai, a 50-year-old coffee vendor. His cart was set up on a bullet-scarred street that was patrolled by columns of green Lebanese army armoured personnel carriers stuffed with soldiers gripping M-16 assault rifles.

By Mark Mackinnon
www.theglobeandmail.com