27 Dead over 12 Days of Clashes in Tripoli

The death toll for the sectarian clashes that engulfed the northern city of Tripoli increased to 27 on Monday after a man succumbed to his injuries at the hospital.

Accoridng to LBCI Abdullah Minnawi passed away as 12 days of fighting pro- and anti-Damascus fighters in the country's second city Tripoli subsided on Monday.

Snipers from both sides were still deployed in flashpoint areas of the northern port city, a security source told Agence France Presse Monday.

Tripoli has seen intense sectarian clashes since the war in neighboring Syria erupted three years ago, with gunmen from the Sunni district of Bab al-Tabbaneh battling fighters in the Alawite area of Jabal Mohsen.

"Twenty-six people have been killed in 12 days of fighting, and 135 others injured," the security source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"The dead were 18 civilian residents of Sunni Bab al-Tabbaneh, seven civilians from Jabal Mohsen and one soldier," said the source, adding that two children and two disabled people were among the civilians killed.

"There were also three fighters from Jabal Mohsen and six from Bab al-Tabbaneh killed."

On Sunday, amid a relative calm, the army raided several homes, hunting for militants.

Shops and schools in the flashpoint neighborhoods remained closed on Monday, but they reopened across the rest of the city for the first time in days.

The international highway from Tripoli to Syria was also reopened Monday, but roads linking the city's warring neighborhoods remain sealed off.

The army has been deployed in Tripoli for several weeks to try to bring peace to the flashpoint districts, but troops have repeatedly come under fire.

Lawmakers from the city have called the latest round of fighting "a war of attrition".