Gen. Michel Aoun sent tanks against his rival's seaside command post Friday, the fourth day of a battle for Christian supremacy that has killed more than 120 people and wounded 500, most of them civilians.
Police said a half-million people were trapped in basements and bomb shelters of Christian east Beirut without electricity, food or water after a cease-fire Thursday afternoon failed to hold. Each side accused the other of breaking it.Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir, the Maronite Catholic spiritual leader, appealed to Aoun and his adversary Samir Geagea, both Maronites: "Stop shooting. . . . Have mercy on the people. Their lives and property are not yours. You must stop this massacre now. You must stop this mass suicide."
A statement from the International Committee of the Red Cross said it was "alarmed by the intensity of the clashes" and requested a "humanitarian cease-fire quickly to permit the evacuation of casualties."
Geagea said his Lebanese Forces militiamen "crushed the repeated advance attempts" by two columns of Aoun's tanks trying to converge on his command post behind howitzer fire of 20 shells a minute.
Geagea's television station later said his militiamen overran the Amsheet base of Aoun's 7th brigade on the northern edge of the enclave. It broadcast a film showing 7th brigade commander Brig. Gen. Sami Rehana surrendering to the Lebanese Forces at the base.
In east Beirut, shells hit high-rise apartment buildings, fuel depots, hospitals and filling stations, sparking fires that raged out of control. Police said snipers kept fire engines from battling the blazes.
One salvo at 10 p.m. set the city's main power plant on fire.
The capital has already been without power since the fighting erupted Tuesday.