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by Jocelyne Zablit

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ATTENTION - UPDATES with renewed fighting, new death toll, quotes ///

BEIRUT, May 12, 2008 (AFP) - Fierce fighting erupted in northern Lebanon on Monday, further exacerbating tensions after days of deadly sectarian battles that have driven the nation to the brink of full-blown civil war.

Clashes erupted between supporters of the Western-backed government and militants loyal to the Hezbollah-led Shiite opposition in two neighbourhoods in the port city of Tripoli, a security official and witnesses told AFP.

Lebanon has been rocked by six days of fighting that has left at least 58 people dead and nearly 200 wounded, the worst unrest since the 1974-1990 civil war which has dramatically raised the stakes in a protracted political crisis.

The ruling Sunni-led majority vowed it would not negotiate with Hezbollah under the gun, as Arab ministers prepared to send in a team to try to end a feud which some fear could engulf other parts of the volatile Middle East.

There were no immediate reports of casualties in Tripoli, a mainly Sunni Muslim city where weekend violence had left one woman dead and several wounded.

Lebanese troops also moved into the Druze mountains southeast of the capital after firefights on Sunday left 13 dead, a security official said.

Many people have fled the region, where homes were hit by rockets, shop windows broken and cars set ablaze in the weekend firefights.

"Even the Israelis didn't do this to us," said one elderly Druze woman in the town of Shwayfat. "They (Hezbollah) came into our homes, terrified our children and broke everything."

In Beirut, there was an uneasy calm although schools and some businesses were still shut. Some barricades put up by Hezbollah fighters and their allies remained, the road to Beirut international airport was shut for the sixth straight day and one border crossing into Syria was blocked.

The showdown saw the powerful Iranian and Syrian backed militant group seize large swathes of Muslim west Beirut last week, plunging the already fragile nation into fear and uncertainty.

Clashes turned deadly last Thursday after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah accused the government of effectively declaring war against his party, and spread to other parts of Lebanon at the weekend.

But opposition fighters withdrew from the capital's streets on Saturday after the army acted to overturn two government measures against Hezbollah that triggered the fighting.

Prime Minister Fuad Siniora accused his opposition rivals of staging a "coup" in the multi-confessional nation, which has been without a president for six months because of the political standoff.

"Prior to any national dialogue, we insist on a solemn pledge from Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah before the public, Arab states and even Iran, that he will refrain from using his weapons inside the country," said former president and leading majority figure Amin Gemayel.

"If they want to kill us in our homes, they can go ahead, we have our children and our grandchildren who will continue to fight for the country's independence, sovereignty and honour."

Sunni Islamist groups in Tripoli on Sunday had declared they were launching their own resistance in the city, where a security official said three cars with Syrian licence plates came under fire on Monday, leaving three people wounded.

Such incidents have raised fears the situation could escalate again given the seething hatred between Sunnis who support the ruling bloc and Shiites who back the opposition.

The crisis is widely seen as an extension of the regional confrontation pitting the United States and its Arab allies against Syria and Iran.

US National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe at the weekend blamed Hezbollah, saying: "They continue to be a destabilising force there with the backing of their supporters, Iran and Syria."

Arab foreign ministers said after crisis talks in Cairo they will send a high-level delegation to Beirut to try to broker talks between the rival factions.

Meanwhile a US warship, which was deployed off Lebanon in February amid concern over Lebanon's political crisis, crossed Egypt's Suez Canal on Sunday on its way to the Mediterranean, an official with the canal authority told AFP. The latest violence erupted after the government said it would investigate a telephone network run by Hezbollah and reassign the airport security chief over his alleged links to the militant group.

Lebanon's political standoff, which erupted in November 2006 when six pro-Syrian ministers quit, has left it without a president since November, when Damascus protege Emile Lahoud stepped down at the end of his term.

Lebanon's parliament had been due to meet on Tuesday in its 19th attempt to choose a successor to Lahoud but it is not clear whether the session will take place.

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