BEIRUT: Gunbattles erupted Sunday between gunmen loyal to President Bashar Assad and a group of pro-Assir supporters in a Beirut neighborhood.
Witnesses told The Daily Star that the armed clashes in Al-Gharbi neighborhood near the capital's Cite Sportive Stadium began around 3 a.m.
Hours later, the Lebanese Army deployed in the area in a bid to contain the fighting as the sound of heavy gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades resonated in nearby Beirut suburbs.
The National News Agency said the clashes between members of the pro-Assad Arab Movement Party and armed supporters of fugitive Sheikh Ahmad Assir, a staunch critic of Hezbollah and the Syrian regime, wounded a number of people.
Head of the Arab Movement Party Shaker Berjawi told a local media outlet that a personal dispute between members of the Future Movement and his party lead to the armed fighting.
"There was a personal dispute at first but then Future supporters attacked the house of an Arab Movement member and tried to storm the headquarters," Berjawi said.
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