By Alia Ibrahim and Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writers and Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, May 9, 2008; 10:22 AM

BEIRUT, May 9 — Gunmen from the Shiite Hezbollah movement seized control of several downtown Beirut neighborhoods Friday as the number of people killed in three days of fighting rose to at least 11.

Hezbollah militants, some carrying assault rifles or rocket-propelled grenade launchers, patrolled outside Starbucks and other shops in the mostly deserted commercial strips of neighborhoods normally controlled by Sunnis loyal to the U.S.-backed Lebanese government. Masked armed men in civilian clothes set up checkpoints and asked passersby for their identity cards, and Hezbollah forces briefly surrounded the homes of Saad Hariri,Lebanon’s top Sunnni lawmaker, and Walid Jumblatt, his Druse ally.

Although government troops soon arrived to guard the politicians’ residences, and the Hezbollah gunmen stood down, the Associated Press reported that a satellite television station affiliated with Hariri was forced off the air, and the office of his party’s newspaper was set on fire.

Friday’s gains by Hezbollah came a day after the leader of the movement accused the government of declaring war on his party.The clashes took on a sectarian cast as mainly Shiite opposition members battled predominantly Sunni supporters of the government. Shiite gunmen tore down posters of Hariri in neighborhoods where he enjoys strong support, the AP reported, and roamed unopposed through streets normally dominated by government supporters.

Christian Lebanese on both sides of the country’s political divide largely stayed out of the fighting, and Christian neighborhoods of Beirut were not involved in the clashes.

At the United Nations, special envoy Terje Roed-Larsen warned the Security Council Thursday that the outbreak of fighting was the worst since the country’s 1975-1990 civil war. U.S. officials condemned Hezbollah, which is backed by Syria and Iran, and said the United States and other governments would also hold Syria responsible.

The clashes began this week after the government announced it would dismantle a Hezbollah telecommunications network and reassign a Shiite army officer in charge of security at Beirut’s international airport.

After a relatively calm morning Thursday, clashes worsened in the afternoon following a speech and news conference by Hezbollah’s secretary general, Hasan Nasrallah, who said the party would defend its communications system.

“The government’s decisions were a declaration of war, and we have to defend our weapons. . . . Weapons will be used to defend the weapons,” he said, demanding that the “black gang” — a reference to the government — withdraw its “dark decisions.”

Later in the evening, pro-government parliament member Hariri proposed a four-point plan to avoid further escalation, including the election of army commander Gen. Michel Suleiman as president and the resumption of national dialogue. Lebanon’s current political crisis started with the resignation of Shiite ministers from the cabinet in 2006 and has left the country without a president since November.

Lebanese politicians say they support Suleiman, but they have been unable to convene parliament in order to elect him.

Hezbollah and Amal, an allied Shiite movement, declared Hariri’s initiative unacceptable, insisting that the initiatives in the streets would be suspended only after Nasrallah’s conditions had been met.

Many Lebanese believe that any solution to the present crisis must be sponsored by outside forces, such as Saudi Arabia and Iran, which would intervene to avoid full-scale Sunni-Shiite strife.

U.S. officials said several major and regional powers, including Syrian allies, are alarmed about the sudden explosion of violence. A senior U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the behind-the-scenes diplomacy, said Russian, Turkish and key Arab leaders had told the Syrian government that it would be held responsible for Hezbollah’s actions.

White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said Hezbollah “needs to make a choice: Be a terrorist organization or be a political party, but quit trying to be both. They need to start playing a constructive role and stop their disruptive activities.”

Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said that Hezbollah had “made progress in establishing a state within a state. They have not implemented agreements and resolutions with regard to disarming their militia. That in turn is encouraging other groups to rearm as well. There is a lack of progress because of their opposition in terms of the election of a president, although everyone has agreed on Mr. Suleiman.”

Khalilzad said the Security Council should consider “additional steps” that could include sanctions if the crisis is not resolved quickly. He also said Syria shared some of the blame for recent events.

“It is outrageous that Syria claims Lebanon is a hostile neighbor when it is Damascus that continues to send weapons into Lebanon and is working to undermine the legitimate Lebanese government,” he said.

The worst violence took place in the mixed neighborhoods of Mazraa and Ras al-Nabaa, where armed supporters of both parties fought for control. Men carried machine guns, and the sound of rocket-propelled grenade launchers could be heard as smoke filled the air. Some civilians fled the areas, while others sought safety in buildings.

Sunni supporters of Hariri’s Future Movement, allied with the government, closed roads leading to the south and to the Bekaa Valley in the east in retaliation for Hezbollah’s closure of the airport road.

A source close to the movement said that if a balance were created on the ground, it could encourage the army to take action and open all roads closed by both sides. So far, the army has not intervened except to attempt to negotiate settlements between fighting groups across Beirut.

Government officials said they were considering declaring a state of emergency, and opposition figures said civil disobedience could continue.

Many Lebanese voiced resignation.

“What’s there to tell? We’ve lived a war; we know what it looks like; we haven’t forgotten,” said Youssef, a man in his 40s who declined to give his full name.