Clashes continue in Lebanon for 5th day

BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) -- More clashes erupted in Lebanon's northern port city of Tripoli on Monday, as fighting between the Hezbollah militia and its rivals who support Lebanon's Western-backed government entered a fifth day.

Lebanese forces are stationed in the Tripoli area, but the government has not ordered them to intervene out of concern that they would appear to be taking sides.

At least 58 people have been killed and 189 have been wounded since the clashes broke out on Thursday, Lebanon's Internal Security Forces said Monday. The violence is the worst to hit Lebanon since the end of its civil war in 1991. It started in Beirut, but quickly spread to nearby mountain villages in the Mount Lebanon area and the northern city of Tripoli.

Hezbollah militias have pulled back from positions in western Beirut and government troops have taken over checkpoints there as peace returned to the Lebanese capital's tense neighborhoods Monday. The violence was triggered by the government's attempts to ban a telecommunications system used by Hezbollah.

The Shiite militant group said the system was instrumental in its resistance to Israel; Lebanon's government believed the system was being used to funnel information about anti-Syrian lawmakers to Damascus, a main backer of Hezbollah. Talal Erslan, a Hezbollah-allied politician who announced a cease-fire agreement Sunday, expressed frustration at a news conference on Monday.