Lebanese Army Moves to Break Up Firefights

Sunnis and Shiites have been fighting in Beirut after the funeral of an intelligence chief

BEIRUT — Gun battles broke out in Beirut early Monday, a day after emotional funeral ceremonies for Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hassan, the intelligence chief whose assassination has exposed long-running sectarian grudges and plunged Lebanon into its worst crisis in years.

The clashes between Sunni gunmen and Shiite militias in the Tariq Jdeide area flared after midnight. At Hassan's funeral hours earlier, speakers had exhorted Sunnis to try and topple the country's Hezbollah-led government to avenge the death of Hassan, a close ally of Sunni leader Saad al-Hariri.