At least 25 people have been killed in the latest fighting in Tripoli in northern Lebanon.
Supporters and opponents of Syria’s Assad regime have fought periodically for more than a year. This week’s clashes started on Thursday night. They eased on Friday morning, although sniper fire continued through the day.
More than 175 people, including four soldiers, have been injured in the fighting between the predominantly Sunni Bab al-Tabbaneh and mainly Alawite Jabal Mohsen districts, with the two sides using mortars, rocket-propelled grenades, and B-10 recoilless rifles
Four children were wounded, one critically, by a mortar shell. A roadside bomb hit a military patrol, but no casualties were reported.
Last December, the Government put security in Tripoli under the supervision of the Army for six months, but two rounds of fighting early this year challenged the effort to quell the violence.
The head of the Merchants’ Association in Tripoli, Asaad Hariri, warned that residents will take matters into their own hands if the fighting persisted.
“If the government continues to abandon its role [in ending the clashes, we will call for civil disobedience in one week,” Hariri said. “We will stop paying water, electricity and telephone bills because the conditions in Tripoli are no longer bearable.”
