Lebanese troops were ready to use force on Tuesday to disarm gunmen and enforce law and order after six days of deadly sectarian gunbattles that have plunged the nation into fear and chaos.

US President George W. Bush, on the eve of a trip to the Middle East, warned Iran and Syria that the international community would not allow Lebanon to fall under foreign domination again and vowed to shore up the Lebanese army.

The fighting, which has left at least 61 people dead and scores more wounded, is the worst sectarian unrest since the 1975-1990 civil war and has stoked fears the country was headed for another all-out conflict.

The army said its troops were prepared to resort to force to bring an end to the violence which has pitted supporters of the Western-backed government against members of the opposition, headed up by th Shiite militia group, Hezbollah.

Fierce battles erupted briefly overnight between Sunnis loyal to the government and pro-Hezbollah Alawites in the northern port city of Tripoli but by early Tuesday troops were reinforcing their presence in affected areas.

Similar violence shook Tripoli on Monday leaving at least one person dead, but no fighting was reported in other areas and in Beirut the situation was calm -- schools have reopened and traffic was slowly returning to normal.

Funerals were being held on Tuesday for a number of those killed in Beirut and in weekend battles in the Druze mountains southeast of the capital.

Several main highways remained blocked by Hezbollah-led Shiite protests, including the road to the Lebanon's only international airport outside Beirut which is still shut.

The latest unrest, which dramatically raised the stakes in an 18-month standoff between the ruling majority and the Syrian and Iranian-backed opposition, erupted after a government crackdown against Hezbollah activities which the powerful militant group said amounted to a declaration of war.

"The civil disobedience campaign will only end when Prime Minister Fuad Siniora officially rescinds his decisions and when his camp returns to the negotiating table," an official with Hezbollah ally Amal, told AFP.

Lebanon's leading An-Nahar newspaper said the army's decision followed commitments from both camps to rein in their militants pending the outcome of crisis talks with an Arab League delegation due in Beirut on Wednesday.

"Today's agenda: The army takes hold of the streets... even by force," declared a headline in the As-Safir newspaper, which is close to the opposition.

The army had previously been instructed not to intervene in the fighting in order to preserve its neutrality in the deeply divided nation.

Bush said his administration would help Siniora by strengthening his armed forces.

"I strongly condemn Hezbollah's recent efforts, and those of their foreign sponsors in Tehran and Damascus, to use violence and intimidation to bend the government and people of Lebanon to their will," Bush said in a statement.

"The international community will not allow the Iranian and Syrian regimes, via their proxies, to return Lebanon to foreign domination and control."

Tension remains high in Beirut after sectarian clashes saw Hezbollah gunmen and their allies take over large swathes of majority Sunni areas in the mainly Muslim western sector of the city.

Hezbollah ended its takeover at the weekend but only after the army reversed a government decision to probe the group's communications network and to reassign the head of airport security over claims he was close to Hezbollah.

Arab foreign ministers held crisis talks in Cairo over the weekend and decided to send an Arab League delegation to Beirut on Wednesday in a bid to end the fighting.

Hezbollah welcomed the Arab League decision but insisted that the delegation must be neutral. "We ask the Arabs not to favour one party over another," Hezbollah deputy chief Hussein Khalil told a news conference.

The ruling majority said in a statement that it was willing to negotiate but not under the gun.

The international "Friends of Lebanon" group called for an immediate end to the violence and for a long-delayed presidential election to be held with no pre-conditions.

Lebanon's political standoff, which erupted in November 2006 when six pro-Syrian ministers quit, has left it without a president for the last six months after Damascus protege Emile Lahoud's term ended.

A parliament vote scheduled for Tuesday to elect a new president was cancelled because of the latest unrest and a new date of June 10 has been set.

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Six days of fighting has left at least 61 people dead

AFP