In brief: Protester killed near Iran Embassy

BEIRUT – A Lebanese demonstrator was shot dead outside the Iranian Embassy in Beirut on Sunday when clashes erupted over Shiite militant group Hezbollah’s involvement in the neighboring civil war in Syria.

Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, has riled sectarian tensions in the region by sending its fighters to support the army of Syrian President Bashar Assad. The official Lebanese news agency said Hisham Salman died shortly after being shot in front of the Iranian Embassy in Beirut’s Bir Hassan neighborhood.

Local media reports said Salman was a member of the Intima party, an opposition group whose leader is also from the Shiite community. The party is strongly opposed to Hezbollah’s interference in Syria, which is Iran’s key ally in the region. Reports said several others were wounded in the clash.

Militia official resigns as general

TRIPOLI, Libya – One of Libya’s highest military officers resigned Sunday after clashes between protesters and a government-aligned militia he was in charge of left 31 people dead in the eastern city of Benghazi, the deadliest such violence in a country where armed factions hold sway.

The violence erupted Saturday when protesters in Benghazi, the country’s second largest city, stormed the main camp of Libya Shield, a largely Islamist grouping of militias paid by the government to help maintain security. The protesters were demanding that the militias submit to the full authority of Libya’s security forces or lay down their arms.

The clashes prompted Army Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Youssef al-Mangoush to resign, citing the unusually high death toll from the violence. Al-Mangoush was due to be replaced soon, and the country’s Congress voted in support of accepting his resignation Sunday.

Thousands flee as Elbe rises

BERLIN – Thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes in a region of eastern Germany where the Elbe River has flooded and burst through a dam, while swollen Danube was approaching Budapest where soldiers and volunteers are building flood walls, officials said Sunday.

At least 21 flood-related deaths have been reported in central Europe, as rivers such as the Danube, the Elbe and the Vlatava have overflowed after a week of heavy rains and caused extensive damage in central and southern Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia and Hungary.