Officials Exerting Efforts to Maintain Stability in Tripoli

Contacts are ongoing with the different factions in Tripoli to maintain calm in the northern city and to halt any security violations by any side, al-Liwaa newspaper reported.

According to the daily, officials are continuing their efforts to preserve stability in Tripoli, urging Arab Democratic Party official Rifaat Eid, who leads the mainly Alawite neighborhood of Jabal Mohsen, and several leaders of the rival neighborhood of Bab al-Tabbaneh, not to slip over into new clashes.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati told the daily that “priority is for maintaining security in Tripoli.”

He pointed out that he will exert efforts to fortify the current calm in Tripoli and restore normal life.

For his part, Tripoli and the North Mufti Sheikh Malek al-Shaar told al-Liwaa that he began preparing for a meeting in cooperation with the military leaders in the north to gather the rival factions in the city to find consensus and remove all the obstacles between the two neighborhoods.

On Tuesday, Shaar held separate meetings with President Michel Suleiman and Miqati to tackle the developments in Tripoli, which has witnessed fierce clashes between Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh, leaving 14 people dead.

Sectarian violence has flared several times in Tripoli since the revolt broke out in neighboring Syria in March last year.