Senior Hezbollah member killed in Beirut clashes

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Two Lebanese men, including a senior member of Hezbollah, were killed in Beirut on Tuesday in clashes between supporters of the Shi'ite militant group and a Sunni faction, security sources said.

They said the clashes were sparked by a fight between a supporter of Hezbollah and another from the Sunni al-Ahbash group in the neighborhood of Burj Abi Haidar. It then escalated into clashes with machine guns and rocket propelled grenades.

"The toll now is two killed," one source said. "One of them is Mohammad Fawaz who is in charge of Burj Abi Haidar sector."

An al-Ahbash official said the other casualty was a supporter of the Sunni faction.

The clashes ended after the army deployed in the area.

The two groups said in a joint statement that there was "no political or sectarian background" behind the clashes. "(We) stress that this was an individual unfortunate incident."

The clashes reflected Lebanon's fragile security situation and increased sectarian tension.

Sunnis form one of Lebanon's main communities, along with Shi'ites and Christians. Sectarian tension ran high after the assassination in 2005 of former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri, the Sunni's acknowledged national leader.

In 2008 a political crisis led to street fighting between Hezbollah and supporters of Hariri, in a brief echo of Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.

Tension re-ignited last month after Hezbollah strongly criticized a U.N. tribunal investigating the killing of Hariri and said that the prosecutor's first indictment, expected to be issued in September or October, will blame some of its members.

Hezbollah denies any link to the 2005 killing.