[PHOTOS, VIDEO] Tensions run high in the northern city of Tripoli

Tensions ran high on Thursday in the northern city of Tripoli, mainly in the Baal Darwich neighborhood  where gunshots were heard.

Tensions started when  partisans of the Arab Democratic party raised the Syrian flag in Jabal Mohsen.

In turn, residents of Bab al-Tebbaneh raised the flag of the Syrian revolution.

There was a limited exchange of fire, while a hand grenade was tossed in Bab al-Tebanneh.

The media official of the Arab Democratic Party Abdul Latif Saleh told LBCI that 4 employees in Tripoli's municipality were shot near the Taqwa mosque.
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.

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.


To watch the full report, please click on the video above.