TRIPOLI: Hundreds of people were still homeless on Sunday after the latest bout of deadly sectarian fighting in the northern Lebanese port city of Tripoli.
The army has barred residents from returning to some areas because there are unexploded grenades from the fighting and the troops are defusing them one by one, a security official told AFP.
Army reinforcements were sent to Tripoli on Saturday after insurgents from the rival Sunni Muslim and Alawite (Shia) communities agreed to halt clashes that erupted early Friday, killing nine people and wounding dozens more.
Fighters battled with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons causing massive damage to property and sending hundreds of people fleeing for cover from the neighboring districts of Bab Al-Tebbaneh and Jabal Mohsen.
On Sunday, the army shot and wounded a suspect during a shootout in Bab El-Tebbaneh, the security official said, adding that the gunman had been wanted for opening fire on troops on Saturday and was now in their custody.
But he said the situation had been calm up throughout the day until then.A source from the Future Movement of Sunni leader Saad Hariri said almost 2,200 families fled their homes in mainly Sunni district of Bab Al-Tebbaneh and the mostly Alawite area of Jabal Mohsen.
Tripoli municipality chief Mohammed Rashid Jamali told AFP that 1,500 people were holed up in eight schools across the city waiting to return home.
We expect half of those displaced by the fighting to return to their homes in the next few days but for those whose homes have been destroyed or badly damaged it will take much longer, Jamali said.
One of those who lost everything is Zoheir Moslemani.
I worked hard for nine years in Nigeria to set up my house and now it has gone up in smoke, the father of four told AFP as he viewed the mangled debris of his home in the Bakkar district of Jabal Mohsen.
Fatima Al-Kawwas and her four children also fled after her apartment was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, vowing not to return until I am sure 100 percent that fighting will not resume.
The security official stressed that calm had been restored in Tripoli, where recurring sectarian clashes have now killed a total of 23 people and wounded more than 100 since June.
No gunfire or firing of rockets has been recorded since 5 pm on Saturday, he said.
Lebanon has been hit by sporadic outbreaks of violence despite a power-sharing deal between rival political factions in May that led to the election of Michel Sleiman as president and the creation of a unity cabinet.
The latest unrest came after the new cabinet hit snags in negotiations aimed at drawing up a policy agenda ahead of a parliamentary vote of confidence which would enable the government to be officially installed.
Bab Al-Tebbaneh is a stronghold of the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority while the inhabitants of Jabal Mohsen mainly support the Syrian-backed opposition led by the powerful Shia Muslim group Hezbollah.
Tensions between the two communities date back to Lebanon s 1975-1990 civil war. Alawites are an offshoot of Shia Islam. -AFP
