Army Units Deploy in Tripoli as Clashes, Sniper Fire Renew at Night
Army units continued their deployment in the northern city of Tripoli on Friday as they requested the residents to cooperate with them in informing them of any suspicious activity in the area.
The Army Command had described the last round of fighting on Thursday night as the worst the city had seen in years.
It added that its units were deploying in the neighborhoods of Jabal Mohsen, Bab al-Tabbaneh, and others that had witnessed clashes.
It is seeking to contain any armed presence in the city and restore calm and stability in Tripoli, added the statement.
But despite the army's measures, clashes and sniper activity renewed as night fell on the northern city.
"Four shells fell between Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh amid heavy gunfire," LBCI television reported.
Ans OTV said "fierce clashes" erupted between the rival districts as state-run National News Agency said "several shells landed in Tripoli's Syria Street and near al-Nasseri Mosque and Souk al-Qameh."
The Army Command revealed that it had raided on Thursday night the resting places of various gunmen involved in the fighting, succeeding in arresting a number of suspects and seizing several weapons and military equipment.
In addition, it said that some army centers were subject to sniper attacks, which wounded seven soldiers and caused material damage to some military vehicles.
The soldiers' injuries are not serious, it stressed.
It urged the residents of Tripoli “to cooperate fully with the army”, warning them of the possibility of the gunmen of using them as human shields.
Tripoli had witnessed its fiercest night of fighting in years along the Bab al-Tabbaneh, Qobberh, Jabal Mohsen, Rifa, al-Baqqar, and Mankoubin neighborhoods.
Twelve people were killed and over 75 were wounded in the latest round of clashes that erupted in Tripoli over the weekend in light of news that Lebanese fighters had been killed in an ambush in the Syrian border town of Tall Kalakh on November 30.
The fighters, who mainly hail from the North and were seeking to fight alongside the Syrian opposition, were killed in an ambush by Syrian regime forces.
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