Brent crude rallied to a 28-month high above $103 on Thursday as the political crisis in Egypt erupted into violence, sparking fresh concern over energy supplies in the crude-rich Middle East.

"The continued unrest in Egypt has prompted Brent oil prices to climb overnight to $103 a barrel, the highest level since September 2008," said Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch.

Egyptians in Lebanon are anxiously watching developments in their strife-torn homeland, fearing that their country is sliding into an unending cycle of chaos and political turmoil.

"All I can think, watching the protests, is that we are going to be the next Lebanon or even the next Iraq," said Shahta al-Masri, a Beirut gas station attendant who hails from Al-Mahalla Al-Kubra in the Nile Delta.

Gunmen firing on protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square killed four people on Thursday as the thousands demanding President Hosni Mubarak go stood firm in their increasingly bloody 10-day revolt.

"All (four) were killed by gunshot, with one hit in the head," said Dr. Mohammed Ismail, at a makeshift clinic in Abdulmenem Riad Square, next to Tahrir (Liberation) Square, taking the death toll over the past 24 hours to seven.

Members of the so-called Hizbullah cell convicted of plotting attacks in Egypt were among the escapees in a weekend prison break, a security official told Agence France Presse Thursday.

The 22 cell members fled on Sunday along with members of Palestinian group Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood and thousands of other convicts during a mass breakout amid anti-government protests in Egypt.

Israel's prime minister has said Iran wants to take advantage of the chaos in Egypt to create "another Gaza" there and warned that Islamic parties have already taken over power by democratic means in Iran, Lebanon and Gaza.

Speaking before the Israeli parliament on Wednesday, Benjamin Netanyahu said he expects any new government in Egypt to honor its three-decade-long peace agreement with Israel.

Anti-government protests that have shaken Egypt must end before talks with the opposition can start, Vice President Omar Suleiman said Wednesday, calling on protesters to respect a curfew and go home.

Suleiman, the veteran intelligence chief appointed to the office of vice president last week, urged demonstrators to respect an earlier call from the Egyptian army and return to their homes, state media said.

World powers said Wednesday that the transition towards democracy in Egypt must begin immediately and called for calm amid clashes in Cairo after Hosni Mubarak vowed to cling to office until September.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon called attacks on peaceful protestors "unacceptable" as pro- and anti-Mubarak demonstrators fought each other in the city's central Tahrir Square, leaving at least 500 injured.

Supporters of President Hosni Mubarak stormed a crowded anti-regime rally in central Cairo on Wednesday, sparking pandemonium in which at least 500 people were hurt and one killed, witnesses said.

Partisans from both sides threw stones and set on each other with sticks and fists in battles that raged for hours in Tahrir Square, the epicenter of anti-regime demonstrations, a day after Mubarak vowed to see out the rest of his term.

Publication has been moved up for a book by Mohamed ElBaradei, the Nobel peace laureate and Egyptian opposition leader.

ElBaradei's "The Age of Deception: Nuclear Diplomacy in Treacherous Times," will come out April 26, not in June, as originally scheduled.

President Barack Obama on Tuesday challenged Egypt's embattled autocratic ruler, a staunch U.S. ally, to begin immediately the process of transitioning the country to new leadership, a signal that there should be no drawn-out goodbye.

Earlier, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak had announced he would not seek another term in office but also would not yield to growing demands to step down now. After a huddle at the White House and a 30-minute telephone conversation with Mubarak, Obama went on television to respond.