Three dead in clashes between Lebanese rivals

Three people were killed in armed clashes between supporters of Lebanon's rival factions in two villages in the Bekaa Valley overnight, as U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wrapped up a lightning visit to Beirut to shore up the new president.

"Three people were killed and four wounded in the fighting," a security official said on Tuesday. An army official earlier told AFP that clashes took place in Saadnayel and Taalbaya. The cause of the fighting remains unclear.

The same two villages were the scene of fighting earlier this month between supporters of the pro-government Sunni movement Future and the opposition Shiite Muslim Hezbollah that left four people wounded.

Rice made an unannounced visit to Lebanon on Monday to bolster the new president and joined calls -- including from U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon -- to speed up the formation of a new government.

"Our policy is unchanged," Rice told reporters in Beirut after meeting with parliament speaker and opposition stalwart Nabih Berri. "It is up to the Lebanese to choose the composition of their government…We hope that the composition of the government proceeds and proceeds rapidly," she added.

Her visit came amid bickering between the Western- and Saudi-backed parliamentary majority and the Iranian- and Syrian-backed opposition over the promised formation of a broad cabinet of national unity.

Rice said Washington still considers Hezbollah a terrorist organization, despite the militant group taking part in Lebanon's new government of national unity.

Hezbollah is on the U.S. State Department list of terrorist organizations and as such Washington has no dealings with the group.

Lebanon has gone through a tense 18-month political crisis which drove it to the brink of civil war in early May, when 65 people were killed in sectarian violence.

Rival factions reached a deal in Doha on May 21 that led to the election of army chief Michel Sleiman as president after a six-month vacuum.

But the anti-Syrian ruling bloc, backed by the West and most Arab states, and the opposition, which is supported by Iran and Syria, continue to squabble over the formation of a new government.

Earlier this month, the Future movement threatened to withdraw from talks on the cabinet line-up because of the violence.

"The clashes are continuing because both sides are acting irresponsibly," the army official said. "If we don't reach a complete solution, there will always be potential for repeated clashes."