Army Intervenes as Arrest of Jabal Mohsen Man Sparks Clashes with Bab al-Tabbaneh

An army soldier was wounded on Friday as sniper gunfire erupted in Tripoli's Bab al-Tabbaneh, Jabal Mohsen and Syria Street, state-run National News Agency reported.

“Gunshots were heard between Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen and sniper activity is taking place around Syria Street,” NNA said.

“The army deployed heavily on the longstanding fighting frontiers and is responding to the sources of gunfire firmly and heavily,” the agency added.

Meanwhile, al-Jadeed television said an elderly man who was in a public bus was injured at the al-Bazar frontier.

It also said that the army diverted traffic to safer routes after sniper gunshots targeted the Abu Ali roundabout.

Earlier, al-Jadeed said tension surged on the al-Bazar and al-Mallouleh frontiers after a man from Jabal Mohsen was arrested by security forces.

It later identified the man as Arab Democratic Party official al-Nawwaseh, saying he was arrested by the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau.

Later on Friday, NNA said the army closed the Tripoli-Akkar international highway after the renewal of sniper activity in the area, as al-Jadeed said a young man identified as S. M. was wounded by sniper fire in the al-Baqqar area.

"The sounds of explosions were heard in the area of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen, specifically in the vicinity of the al-Mallouleh roundabout, and they could have resulted from the explosion of a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG)," NNA added.

A few hours later, LBCI said the army largely restored calm in the unrest zone, but noted that gunshots were still being heard.

A military source told LBCI: "We fired at the two fighting parties in Tripoli, who shot back and hurled hand grenades at our armored personnel carriers, but no soldiers have been hurt."

Quoting the Arab Democratic Party, the main political and armed group in Jabal Mohsen, LBCI said "the unrest erupted after an Intelligence Bureau unit arrested a young man from Jabal Mohsen called Youssef Diab, which prompted residents to protest and fire shots in the air, the thing that provoked Bab al-Tabbaneh's residents and led to clashes."

"The arrest of the young man in Jabal Mohsen is an attempt to eliminate the Alawite sect and it will not go unnoticed and we demand that the detainee be handed over to the army," LBCI quoted the party's leader Rifaat Eid as saying.

Meanwhile, Tripoli MP Mohammed Kabbara, a member of al-Mustaqbal bloc, urged "our people in Bab al-Tabbaneh to leave things to the army and not to be dragged into a strife that 'the Assad barracks' in Jabal Mohsen is trying to ignite."