A Mediterranean Battlefield - Syria

[Magda Hassan]

Syria violence spills into streets of Lebanon's Tripoli

Hussein Malla / AP

A Sunni gunman fires during clashes, in the northern port city of Tripoli, Lebanon, on May 14. Street battles pitting Lebanese Sunnis who generally support the Syrian uprising, against Alawite supporters of Assad's regime killed at least one person Monday, raising the death toll to four since Sunday. The clashes began Sunday after authorities detained an anti-Syrian Lebanese national.

Hussein Malla / AP

A Lebanese Sunni family run between white tarps hung to provide cover from snipers as they flee their house during clashes, in the northern port city of Tripoli, Lebanon, on May 14.

Reuters reports -- Two men were killed and at least 20 people were wounded in clashes between Alawite supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Sunni Muslims in the Lebanese city of Tripoli, medical sources said on Monday.
Fierce clashes overnight shook the northern port city and sporadic fighting continued on Monday. Machineguns and rocket propelled grenades were used.
Tension between the Alawite and Sunni communities in Tripoli has been fuelled by the unrest in neighboring Syria, where Assad is seeking to crush a 14-month-old uprising which began with largely peaceful protests against his rule but has become increasingly militarized.

Five dead, dozens wounded in Lebanon clashes: medics

Stringer / REUTERS

Residents carry their belongings as they flee their homes through smoke from burnt barricades at the Sunni Muslim Bab al-Tebbaneh neighbourhood in Tripoli, northern Lebanon, May 13, 2012. REUTERS/Omar Ibrahim



updated 5/14/2012 1:47:55 PM ET TRIPOLI, Lebanon (Reuters) - Five people were killed and more than 70 wounded in clashes between Alawite supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Sunni Muslims in the Lebanese city of Tripoli, medical sources said on Monday.
Fierce clashes shook the northern port city overnight and sporadic fighting continued on Monday, as fighters holed up in bullet-scarred buildings fired machineguns and rocket propelled grenades.
Tension between the Alawite and Sunni communities in Tripoli has been fuelled by the unrest in neighboring Syria where Assad seeks to crush a 14-month-old revolt that began with largely peaceful protests but has become increasingly militarized.
Assad is from the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam whereas the revolt has been led by the majority Sunni Muslims.
A small Alawite minority is concentrated in Tripoli, a conservative Sunni city where many residents have been enraged by the Syrian government's crackdown.
Clashes began late on Saturday and three people were killed at the weekend in the city's Alawite enclave and surrounding Sunni Muslim neighborhoods.
The fighting in Tripoli, 70 km (43 miles) from Beirut, highlights how sectarian tensions in Syria can spill into Lebanon. Buildings in the area are still riddled with bullet holes from similar clashes earlier in the year.

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Islamist groups and officials were meeting in Tripoli on Monday to try to solve the crisis.
"So far there is no agreement to deploy the army. They are afraid of creating another conflict between the army and the fighters," said one cleric at the meeting, who asked not to be named. "I'm worried the problems here in Tripoli will only spread until they agree on doing something."
Among the deaths at the weekend was a soldier hit by sniper fire. Sporadic fighting also took place between armed Sunnis and the Lebanese army near a main Sunni district, and security sources said military has been reticent to become dragged into the conflict.
Tension in Tripoli had been rising over the detention of Islamists and clashes started after police broke up a sit-in against the arrest of Shadi al-Moulawi.

Lebanon's porous border has been used by supporters of the Syrian uprising to smuggle arms and supplies to the opposition.A court on Monday charged Moulawi for involvement with an unnamed terrorist organization. He will be sent for a military trial, a court source said.
Islamists say Moulawi was working with refugees who had fled to Lebanon. A statement by al-Jamaa al-Islamiya, an Islamist group in Tripoli, criticized his arrest as lacking due process. Police said he was arrested after thorough surveillance.
(Reporting by Nazih Siddiq and Erika Solomon; Editing by Maria Golovnina)

Stringer / Reuters

A Sunni Muslim gunman carries a machinegun during clashes at the Sunni Muslim Bab al-Tebbaneh neighbourhood in Tripoli, northern Lebanon, on May 14. Two men were killed and at least 20 were wounded in clashes between Alawite supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Sunni Muslim fighters in the Lebanese city of Tripoli, medical sources said on Monday. Fierce clashes overnight shook the northern port city and sporadic fighting continued on Monday morning, with fighters firing machineguns and rocket propelled grenades.

Reuters

A Sunni Muslim gunman fires his rifle as others help an injured colleague during clashes at the Sunni Muslim Bab al-Tebbaneh neighborhood in Tripoli, northern Lebanon, on May 14. Two men were killed and at least 20 people were wounded in clashes between Alawite supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Sunni Muslims in the Lebanese city of Tripoli, medical sources said on Monday. Fierce clashes overnight shook the northern port city and sporadic fighting continued on Monday. Machineguns and rocket propelled grenades were used.

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