Four wounded in Lebanon sectarian clashes

Four people were wounded in armed clashes in Lebanon overnight between supporters of the anti-Syrian majority and the Hezbollah-led opposition, as British Foreign Minister arrived in Beirut to show support for the Doha accord.

Rivals opened fire with machine guns, mortar rounds and rockets in the village of Saadnayel in the Bekaa Valley in the east of the country, an AFP correspondent said.

Sporadic fighting has broken out between rival factions in Lebanon despite a deal agreed last month between the mainly Sunni parliamentary majority and the Shiite-led opposition aimed at ending a protracted political crisis.

Trouble flared in Saadnayel after a row between a Sunni and a Shiite, which led to supporters from both sides becoming involved, witnesses told AFP. The army moved into the area on Monday, but did not intervene in the clashes.

The Bekaa region has a significant Hezbollah influence and has been spared much of the violence which has rocked the country.

British visit

Also on Monday, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband pledged his country's support for stability in post-crisis Lebanon, at the end of a 24-hour visit.

"Lebanon can be a force for stability in the Middle East rather than being a victim of instability," he told reporters after meeting Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.

Miliband also held talks with newly-elected President Michel Suleiman and parliament speaker Nabih Berri.

His trip comes on the heels of a brief visit to Beirut on Saturday by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who stressed his country's support for Suleiman and urged Lebanese reconciliation through dialogue.

Suleiman's election followed a six-month void in the presidency due to a prolonged political crisis that pitted the ruling Western-backed bloc against the opposition, backed by Syria and Iran, and turned violent in early May.

Clashes between the rival groups left 65 dead and came to an end after the two sides sealed a deal in Qatar on May 21 that brought about Suleiman's election, in what Miliband billed "a turning point."

The foreign secretary said Britain would offer political and practical support for Lebanese stability.

"As a member of the U.N. Security Council, we are fully committed to play our part and to urge others to do so in ensuring that all of Resolution 1701 is put into practice, including the Shebaa Farms issue," he said.

Resolution 1701 brought an end to a devastating war between Israel and Hezbollah in the summer of 2006 and called for the U.N. secretary general to make a proposal for the delineation of the disputed Shebaa Farms area.

Israel captured the 25-square-kilometer (10-square-mile) area of land on the Israel-Lebanon-Syria border along with the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it along with the rest of the strategic plateau.

In the past, the United Nations has viewed Shebaa Farms as Syrian, but Lebanon today claims sovereignty over the territory with the approval of Damascus.

A 2007 U.N. report on the territory did not decide on ownership or sovereignty issues.