The group's fighters used heavy weapons and small arms to attack the mountain settlements south-east of Beirut. About 40 people have died in the clashes, which saw the Syrian-backed Shia Islamist movement Hezbollah and its allies fighting the governing Western-backed Sunni, Christian and Druze alliance.

Beirut was quiet on May 11, after control of areas previously seized by Hezbollah was handed to the Lebanese army, but clashes took place overnight in Lebanon's second city, Tripoli. Many roads in the capital remain blocked, including the airport road, as the Shia group continue a campaign of civil disobedience.

Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo have urged an immediate halt to the fighting and agreed to send a ministerial delegation to Beirut to try to mediate an end to the crisis.