Four people were killed and 15 wounded in overnight gun battles in the Lebanese city of Tripoli in a second night of fighting between Sunni and Alawite gunmen loyal to different sides in the conflict in neighbouring Syria, a military source said yesterday.
In the capital Beirut on Monday, tensions eased after troops fanned out across the city to clear the streets of gunmen who had clashed on Sunday night.
The violence flared after the assassination of senior Lebanese security official Wissam al Hassan, who was opposed to the Syrian leadership, in central Beirut on Friday.
The bombing and the ensuing clashes brought the civil war in Syria into the heart of Lebanon and triggered a political crisis, with the opposition demanding the resignation of the mostly pro-Damascus cabinet of Prime Minister Najib Mikati.
The fighting in Tripoli took place between the neighbouring areas of Bab al Tabbaneh, a Sunni Muslim stronghold, and Jebel Mohsen, an Alawite district.
Three Sunnis and one Alawite were killed and 15 people were wounded, a military source said. Residents said combatants traded machine gun-fire and rocket-propelled grenades.
Yesterday morning, Tripoli's centre was busy and traffic moved freely. Lebanese soldiers kept watch in armoured vehicles mounted with heavy machine guns. But shops close to the combat zone were shuttered.
A fruit market on the front line was closed and residents said they feared snipers. Teenagers in T-shirts with guns hid behind buildings to peek out up the hill into Jebel Mohsen.
Tripoli's Sunni Muslims support the Syrian rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar al Assad, who are mostly from Syria's Sunni majority.
Mr Assad is a member of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam.
He can count on the support of Hezbollah, a powerful Shi'ite Islamist armed group that is part of the Mikati government.
The violence in Tripoli on Monday night brought the toll to at least 10 dead and 65 wounded since Friday.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article