Hezbollah militias assume control of western Beirut

BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) -- Western Beirut fell under the control of opposition Hezbollah militias Friday in what amounted to an army-negotiated surrender of pro-government positions, Lebanese Internal Security Forces and Western military observers said.

The "dramatic development" is a major blow to the democratically elected and pro-Western government of Lebanon, CNN's Brent Sadler said.

Soldiers went to several offices of pro-government political parties in western Beirut overnight, he said. They persuaded pro-government gunmen who had battled Hezbollah militants to leave the offices as the opposition forces hovered nearby, he said.

Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, part of the pro-government coalition, said the government was "now at the end of a gun barrel" and they expect the "conditions for surrender will be offered sooner or later," Sadler reported.

"I think ... it's a coup," Jumblatt told CNN in a phone interview. "The Lebanese army is in total paralysis."

Rather than fight, the army has stayed above the fray. With its own political factions, taking sides could throw the military into disarray.

With pro-government gunmen out of the way, the fighting in the capital eased at bit Friday after intense gun battles the previous two days echoed through Beirut's streets.

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