Clashes resume in Tripoli amidst deployment of LAF

Clashes resumed on Saturday in the Northern city of Tripoli after gunmen appeared across various regions in it.     

Earlier, Lebanese Armed Forces reinforced their deployment in the city as Tripoli’s residents expressed their fear of the re-eruption of clashes between Tripoli’s Jabal Mohsen and Bab el-Tebbaneh seemingly since arms are still available with both conflicting sides.                                        

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.                                         

Clashes erupted in Tripoli on Sunday the 19th of May between pro-Syrian regime supporters in the predominantly Alawite neighborhood of Jabal Mohsen and pro-revolution fighters in the Sunni Bab al-Tabbaneh leaving at least 35 persons killed, including 3 LAF members, and more than 300 others wounded.                            Violence between the two areas stretches back to decades, but the recent round of fighting was the heaviest.                            

On Sunday the 26th of May, clashes eased significantly, while sporadic gunshots were still heard occasionally as Lebanese Armed Forces deployed in al-Kobbeh and Rifa regions, and headed towards Syria Street.