1 Dead, 24 Hurt as Clashes Enter Third Day in Tripoli
Clashes continued Sunday in the northern city of Tripoli, raising the casualty toll to at least one dead and 24 injured in two days of fighting.
“Abir al-Kayyal has died of wounds she incurred in the ongoing clashes between Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen,” state-run National News Agency reported in the evening.
It later said that the injury toll rose to 24. Three army soldiers and a member of the General Security were among the wounded, NNA said.
The agency identified 15 of the wounded as Shadi al-Hasan, Saad Mishhawi, Mohammed Hasan, Walid al-Hamawi, Ahmed Nasser, Yahia Awad, Hamdi al-Baqqar, Yahia Saleh, Mohammed Khodr, Firas Abdul Aziz, Kamel Yamen, Hussam al-Hazzouri, Jaafar al-Hazzouri and Jihad Haydar.
It said Haydar suffered “critical wounds” and was rushed to the Islamic Hospital in the city.
The agency reported fierce clashes in the evening, saying the frontiers of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen were witnessing fighting with all sorts of light- and medium-caliber weapons, including RPG-7 and B-10 rockets.
Meanwhile, the army was shooting back at the sources of gunfire and it erected checkpoints on the outskirts of the two areas to prevent gunmen from exiting or entering the conflict zone, according to NNA.
“Army troops backed by armored vehicles raided places in al-Riva area after several people were wounded by sniper fire on Syria Street,” Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) said earlier on Sunday.
“Clashes are ongoing on the frontiers of al-Riva, Starco, al-Bazar, Baal al-Darawish and al-Shamal Street amid sniper activity on all frontiers in Tripoli,” it said.
According to LBCI TV, the army closed the eastern lane on the Tripoli-Akkar highway and kept the western land open to traffic.
On the political front, a number of Muslim clerics met at a Jamaa Islamiya office in the city and urged “all the leaders of the fighting frontiers to cease fire immediately.”
"This meaningless battle will only serve the interests of the Syrian regime and its allies in Lebanon," they warned.
The fighting had renewed on Saturday evening on several frontiers after a brief lull.
The current round of fighting in Tripoli was sparked by the Friday death of Taleb Assi of Jabal Mohsen from injuries he had sustained when unknown assailants opened fire at him in Tripoli's al-Qobbeh area.
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