Hezbollah Chief: Beirut 'War Has Started'

What began as a strike yesterday is now “open war” in Lebanon, according to Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, CNN reports. Open violence continued for a second day today, with loyalists and opposition fighters clashing after the US-backed government tried to muscle through measures against Hezbollah on Monday, including a crackdown on the Syria- and Iran-friendly group’s communications network.

Nasrallah called for compromise with the government, which has been in crisis for some 17 months, but also issued a warning, the AP reports: “Those who shoot at us, we will shoot at them. The hand raised against us, we will cut it off.” A government official called the statement “a direct threat of assassination.” (More Lebanon stories.)