Lebanon: 12 wounded in sectarian clashes

Lebanese sources reported clashes on Friday evening between al-Bakkar and Jabal Mohsen in Tripoli, northern Lebanon. Twelve people were injured in gunbattles between the rival neighbourhoods as sniper fire prevented motorists from using the Tripoli-Akkar highway, the National News Agency reported Saturday. NNA said the clashes that erupted between mainly Alawite Jabal Mohsen and the majority Sunni area of al-Bakkar around midnight Friday spread to the al-Rifa, al-Mankoubeen, al-Shaarani, al-Hara al-Barraniyeh, Souq al-Qamh and Syria street in Bab al-Tabbaneh. The army fired back at the source of gunfire, the agency said. A gunfight erupted between young men from Bab al-Tabbaneh and a family in al-Zahriyeh but the army contained the incident and conducted patrols in the area. The international highway that links Tripoli with the northern district of Akkar also witnessed sniper fire in the areas of Duwwar Abu Ali and al-Mallouleh, NNA said. Motorists were forced to take secondary roads to escape the fire, the agency added. “Tripoli’s residents reject gunfights,” al-Mustaqbal MP Khaled al-Daher said during a press conference. He stressed that mainly Sunni residents of Bab al-Tabbaneh did not return fire when attacked by Jabal Mohsen, whose residents are followers of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Addressing Prime Minister Najib Mikati, the Akkar lawmaker said: “Your cabinet is not serving any team in Lebanon.” “It is a government of failure … that harms the Lebanese people and has only one objective of serving the Syrian regime,” he said. Al-Daher added that Miqati should resign to preserve his dignity and Lebanon’s honour.