TRIPOLI: The death toll in Lebanon’s northern city of Tripoli reached 25 yesterday in the seventh straight day of clashes between factions supporting opposing sides in Syria’s two-year civil war, security sources said.
Residents heard sounds of rocket-propelled grenades and sniper fire throughout the night and into yesterday morning in one of the most violent bouts of fighting so far in the city.
Two people were killed yesterday, according to medical sources. Security sources said 25 had died in the clashes in the past week.
The coastal city’s Sunni majority supports the Sunni-led revolt in Syria, where Sunnis are also a majority. But an Alawite enclave in Tripoli supports Syrian President Bashar Assad, from the same sect.
Assad has garnered support from many in minority groups like the Alawites. Fear of radicals who are have joined rebel ranks in the fight against Assad’s government has mobilized many in minority groups, including Alawites beyond Syria’s borders.
Residents said the recent spate of fighting in Tripoli has been the fiercest so far, including the use of heavy weapons such as advanced machine guns and mortar bombs.
More than 250 people have been wounded in the fighting, medics say.
Syrian-linked death toll grows in Lebanon’s Tripoli
