WORLD IN BRIEF : LEBANON : Rival Muslim Units Clash; 12 Are Killed

Rival Shiite Muslim militiamen, one group loyal to Iran and the other to Syria, battled in the Bekaa Valley town of Baalbek, 38 miles east of Beirut. Police said 12 were killed and 39 wounded. Fighters of Hezbollah (Party of God) and Amal (Arabic for “hope”) traded grenade attacks on each other’s command posts, setting them on fire, authorities reported. A police spokesman said the town’s 150,000 inhabitants huddled in basements or fled to neighboring fields as the fighting with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades raged for 24 hours. Syrian troops in charge of Baalbek’s security massed in battle formations around the town, the spokesman added.