Gunfire echoes in Beirut after Hezbollah leader speech

BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) - Shooting erupted Thursday between pro- and anti-government forces on the streets of Beirut after Hezbollah's leaders accused the government of declaring war.

There are reports of open street battles in at least one neighborhood. One journalist described it as the worst violence in the capital in three years

The violence, which is limited to Beirut's Shia and Sunni neighborhoods, erupted shortly after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the government's attempts to halt its use of a telecommunications system amounts to "a declaration of open war."

A short time after that speech, CNN's Cal Perry reported from Sodeco Square in downtown Beirut during an intense gun battle between a Shiite and a Sunni neighborhood near CNN's Beirut Bureau.