Second phase of Tripoli’s security plan kicks off

The second phase of the security plan in Tripoli kicked off on Monday morning with the deployment of security forces in Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen neighborhoods.

The security plan is being implemented under the supervision of the head of the Tripoli security forces unit, General Bassam Ayoubi.

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 al-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.