Charbel Praises Tripoli Officials for Restraint over Bus Attack

Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel hailed on Monday officials in the northern city of Tripoli for “responsibly” dealing with the bus attack, pointing out that two men involved in the incident were arrested.

Charbel praised in comments published in As Safir newspaper the Arab Democratic Party, which is mainly Alawite, al-Mustaqbal movement and several parties in Tripoli for denouncing the attack.

He announced that security forces detained two men involved in the attack on Alawites.

The army leadership said in its communique late Saturday that Yehya Samir Mohammed, a Syrian, has been arrested and that soldiers were pursuing the remaining three suspects.

It identified them as Khaled Jamal al-Rahi, Omar Mohammed Abdulaziz al-Ahmed and Mustafa al-Hamid Jawhar, who are all Lebanese.

The communique said the army was able to arrest Mohammed after carrying out several raids.

At least six residents from the Tripoli neighborhood of Jabal Mohsen were wounded on Saturday when a van carrying eight passengers came under attack by masked gunmen in the area of al-Tabbaneh near Dar al-Salam school, the army said in a previous communique.

The assailants took the passengers at gunpoint to local streets in the area and shot six of them in their feet, the military said.

Their injuries were not life threatening, it added.

Tripoli is the scene of frequent Syria-linked battles pitting Sunnis from Bab al-Tebbaneh against Alawites in neighboring Jabal Mohsen.

Most Sunnis support Syria's revolt against President Bashar Assad, while Alawites, who belong to the same sect as Assad, back his regime.

The latest fighting ended when the army deployed along Syria Street, which separates the two districts and acts as the makeshift frontline.