1 Dead, 22 Hurt in New Clashes between Bab al-Tabbaneh, Jabal Mohsen

At least one person was killed and 22 others were wounded on Sunday in armed clashes between the rival Tripoli neighborhoods of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen, state-run National News Agency reported.

MTV said "the shooting started in Bab al-Tabbaneh over reports that 12 of Sheikh Salem al-Rafehi's supporters were killed while fighting alongside the Syrian opposition in Qusayr."

But later on Sunday al-Rafehi denied MTV's report.

The army deployed heavily in Syria Street, which separates the rival districts, and was shooting back at the sources of gunfire.

A statement issued by the Army Command said an officer and a soldier were wounded in the clashes and that army units were intensifying measures and deployment to restore normalcy in the city.

Earlier, NNA reported that the intensity of the Tripoli clashes had relatively abated.

The National News Agency said machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades were being used in the clashes which were concentrated on the Haret al-Muhajirin and al-Omari frontiers and the area surrounding al-Nassri Mosque.

NNA said Mohammed Youssef died of his injuries after he was critically wounded in Jabal Mohsen.

It said a policeman and 19 other civilians were wounded in the unrest.

The agency identified the wounded as Imad Khaled Fayyad, Bassam al-Kaaki, Abdul Wahhab al-Baqqar, Ali Awwad, Fadlallah al-Masri, Khadija Khaled, Samar Ghiyyeh, Tareq Qassem, Dunia Mahfoud, Liliane Mustafa Hussein, Taleb Habbabeh, Ali Mustafa, Khadija Saad Mohammed, Jomaa Yassine, Taleb Dib, Sara Qureitem, Bashar Rabah, Abdul Wahhab Salam and Nagham Dib.

LBCI television said al-Kaaki was wounded as five shells fell on the vegetable market in Bab al-Tabbaneh.

It also said an army officer and a soldier were reportedly wounded in the clashes.

NNA said a number of shells hit the vegetable market in Bab al-Tabbaneh and a shop went up in flames.

"The Tripoli-Akkar international highway is witnessing intermittent sniper activity at the Bab al-Tabbaneh point, which made it dangerous for motorists," NNA added.

It later reported that a passenger bus came under sniper gunfire on Bab al-Tabbaneh's highway, but noted that no one was hurt.

The agency said the violence broke out after a dispute between young men erupted into an exchange of gunfire and sniper activity.

Al-Jadeed television said sniper gunfire was targeting al-Zahriyeh neighborhood, which is adjacent to Bab al-Tabbaneh.

Rifaat Eid, secretary-general of the Arab Democratic Party, the main military and political force in Jabal Mohsen, told LBCI: "We won't respond to the sources of gunfire and we were expecting clashes due to the Qusayr battle."

But fighters from Bab al-Tabbaneh told LBCI they were defending themselves, accusing the Arab Democratic Party of starting the clashes "to deviate attention from the Qusayr battle."

LBCI said the army urged politicians to "ask the parties to practice restraint because it will not be lenient with any deployment of gunmen."

In March, at least five people were killed and 26 others were wounded, includung army troops, in clashes between the two rival neighborhoods.

The army stepped up its deployment in the city in the wake of the clashes.

The Sunni district of Bab al-Tabbaneh borders the Alawite Jabal Mohsen area, and gunmen in the two areas regularly open fire on each other. Violence has regularly broken out between the two communities as the conflict in Syria -- pitting a Sunni-led opposition against the Alawite regime -- raises tensions.