MP Kabbara denounces attacks against civilians in Tripoli

Deputy Mohammad Kabbara denounced the attack against civilians in Tripoli on Saturday, urging security forces to implement measures at the northern city in order to prevenet similar incidents.           

During a press conference held on Sunday, MP Kabbara said that ongoing sniping operations lead to a further deterioration in the city, asking Lebanese Armed Forces to contain the situation.               

Kabbara added that any criminal act in response to the twin blasts that targeted the city will cover on the major crime that happened and lead to strife among citizens.               

The port city of Tripoli has long been a stronghold of Sunni Islamists in northern Lebanon.

But the city has become increasingly volatile in recent months due to the civil war in neighboring Syria, where the Sunni majority is leading a revolt against President Bashar al-Assad.             

Fighting had re-erupted on Monday 21st October in the northern city between gunmen of rival Lebanese sects where at least 12 people were killed in the latest round of clashes.                  

The latest battle also wounded more than 60 people, officials said.                

Disputes from neighboring Syria's civil war frequently inflame sectarian grievances in Tripoli. These clashes pit gunmen from both the mostly Sunni Bab Tabbaneh district and the Jabal Mohsen district which mostly comprises residents of Syrian President Bashar Assad's Alawite sect, a Shiite Islam offshoot.             
Tensions had been mounting since 14 October, when a Lebanese military prosecutor pressed charges against seven men, at least one of whom was from Jabal Mohsen, for their involvement in twin bombings near two Sunni mosques in Tripoli on 23 August that killed 47 people.