TRIPOLI: Two people were killed and dozens wounded in street battles between rival sectarian camps armed with rockets, sniper rifles and grenades in the north Lebanese city of Tripoli on Wednesday.
Panicked residents were fleeing the scene of the fighting which first erupted late on Tuesday in two districts in northeastern Tripoli, while several roads were blocked and local shops and schools were closed, an AFP correspondent said.
A security official said two people were killed and another 49 were wounded in the violence, which followed the eruption of similar battles two weeks ago in the port city that left nine people dead and dozens more injured.
The latest fighting comes amid continued efforts by Prime Minister Fouad Seniora to form a national unity government, which have been hampered by bickering between rival factions over cabinet posts.
Fighting was raging on a main road separating the areas of Bab Al-Tebbaneh, where most residents are Sunni supporters of the Western-backed Seniora government, and Jabal Mohsen, which is dominated by members of the Alawite community, an offshoot of Shia Islam.
The security official told AFP that the dead included a Palestinian nurse gunned down by sniper fire, adding, “The wounded belong to both the Sunni and Alawite rival camps.
He said the Lebanese army has been ordered “to increase patrols and arrest anyone who threatens public security even if the use of force is necessary. The army could not be reached for comment, but was seen bolstering its presence in neighboring areas without intervening directly to halt the shootings.
Sporadic fighting has erupted in Lebanon despite a power sharing deal between rival factions aimed at ending political crisis that boiled over into clashes that left 65 dead in May and raised fears of a return to all-out civil war.
The AFP correspondent said many people living in the areas of Bab Al-Tebbaneh and Jabal Mohsen have fled their homes, but that some people were wounded by sniper fire as they were trying to escape the violence.
Witnesses also said some people who were wounded in overnight clashes could not be taken to hospital because of the intensity of the fighting.
Main roads in the area have been blocked, including the motorway that connects Tripoli to the Syrian border, the correspondent said, while schools and businesses shut down in the two affected districts and some surrounding areas.
Local leaders and security officials from Bab al-Tebbaneh held a meeting at the home of the mufti of northern Lebanon, Sheikh Malek al-Shaar, to discuss the crisis but no representatives from Jabal Mohsen were present.A statement issued after the meeting stressed the need for calm, adding: The army and security forces should play their role on the ground. A party is working to cause sedition between the two sects, it said, without elaborating.
Pro-government Tripoli MP Mostafa Alloush also called on the army play a more active role rather than staying on the sidelines, and to take full control of affairs in the area.
Siniora, a Sunni Muslim, has been struggling to form a new government despite a May 21 powersharing deal hammered out in the Qatari capital of Doha between the ruling majority and the mainly Shiite opposition led by Hezbollah.
He said on Tuesday that progress was being made and that he hoped a cabinet could be formed by the time President Michel Sleiman heads to Paris for a Mediterranean summit opening on Sunday.
The Doha accord allocated 16 cabinet seats to the parliamentary majority and 11 to the opposition, while Sleiman would name three ministers. – AFP
