BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Shiite Hezbollah gunmen have seized control of several Beirut neighborhoods from Sunnis loyal to Lebanon's U.S.-backed government.

At least 11 people have been killed and 20 more hurt in three days of street battles and gunfights. Some see the sectarian clashes as reminiscent of Lebanon's bloody 15-year civil war that ended in 1990.

The satellite TV station affiliated with the party of Lebanon's top Sunni lawmaker, Saad Hariri, has been forced off the air. Gunmen have set the offices of the party's newspaper on fire.

Lebanon's army has stayed out of political fighting that's paralyzed the country for more than a year. Soldiers did intervene to protect firefighters when the newspaper offices were set on fire.

Hariri is besieged in his home. And Prime Minister Fuad Saniora and several ministers are holed up in Saniora's downtown office surrounded by troops and police.