BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Iranian-backed Hizbullah took control of the Muslim part of Beirut on Friday, tightening its grip on the city in a major blow to the US-backed government.

Security sources said at least 11 people had been killed and 30 wounded in three days of battles between pro-government gunmen and fighters loyal to Hizbullah, a Shia political movement with a powerful guerrilla army.

The Europea Union, Germany and France urged calm and a peaceful resolution. Syria said the issue was an internal Lebanese affair while Iran blamed “the adventurist interferences” of the United States and Israel for the violence.

The fighting, the worst internal strife since the 1975-90 civil war, was triggered this week after the government took decisions targeting Hizbullah’s military communications network. The group said the government had declared war.

In scenes reminiscent of the darkest days of the civil war, young men armed with assault rifles roamed the streets amid smashed cars and smouldering buildings.

The sound of exploding grenades and automatic gunfire echoed throughout the night across a city still rebuilding from the 1975-90 conflict. By mid-morning the fighting had died down and Hizbullah and allied fighters were in control as loyalists put down their weapons.

The dead included a woman and her 30-year-old son, who were killed when trying to flee Ras al-Nabae — a mixed Sunni-Shia Beirut district and scene of some of the heaviest clashes.

“They were trying to flee to the mountains. Instead ... they reached the hospital, dead,” said a relative of the victims, who declined to give her name because of security fears.

“It was terrifying during the night. We couldn’t even move about in the house,” said another woman — a resident of Ras al-Nabae who had fled the area at first light with her children. “We spent the night in the corridor.”

Saudi Arabia, a strong backer of the governing coalition, called for an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers over the crisis, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television reported. A pro-government leader called for dialogue.

“The party, regardless of its military strength, cannot annul the other,” Walid Jumblatt, leader of the Druze minority, told LBC television station from his home in Beirut. “Dialogue alone brings results. Running away from dialogue is not useful.”