Sporadic Sniper Gunfire Wounds Four in Tripoli as Army Beefs Up Presence

The Lebanese army heavily deployed on Friday in the northern city of Tripoli as intermittent gunfire injure three people, including a soldier, in the area a day after clashes erupted between rival neighborhoods.

The state-run National News Agency reported that the army fortified its posts and deployed heavily in various areas in Tripoli, in particular, in Syria street that separates the rival districts of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen.

The NNA said that sporadic sniper gunfire injured Fouad al-Saytari and Walid Daher in al-Qobbeh square.

Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5) reported that soldier Rony Haddad was also wounded.

LBCI reported that another soldier was injured by sniper fire.

Arab Democratic Party media official Abdul Latif Saleh told LBCI that the party announced ceasefire and kicked off negotiations with the families of the victims who were killed in Tripoli's twin blasts in August to restore calm in the city.

The army later on blocked the Abou Ali roundabout – al-Mallouleh highway and al-Beddawi, keeping the sea road open for traffic.

Media reports said that the military also arrested four gunmen, including a Syrian national, in al-Qobbeh area.

Until Friday, at least three people were killed and 36 others injured in the clashes that broke out a day before, the NNA reported.

“We reject attempts to spread violence in the city,” al-Mustaqbal bloc MP Mohammed Kabbara told reporters after a meeting for Tripoli figures at his house.

He stressed that “suspects don't have any political cover,” demanding “the state to arrest those who are involved in city's the security incidents.”

The clashes erupted on Thursday after a man succumbed to his wounds that he sustained during a shooting in the morning.

The army earlier said in a communique that the measures carried out by its units in Tripoli decreased tension between the rival neighborhoods of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen despite the ongoing sectarian and political incitement.

“Individual incidents are still occurring over the arrest of suspects, which are usually accompanied by attacks on army posts,” the army said.

Tripoli has been the scene of frequent deadly clashes between Alawite residents of the Jabal Mohsen district, who hail from the same religious sect as Syrian President Bashar Assad, and Sunnis in neighboring Bab al-Tabbaneh who support the Syrian rebels.

Tripoli's population is 80 percent Sunni and 11 percent Alawite -- an offshoot of Shiite Islam -- and violence between the two communities dates back to Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.