One Killed in Tripoli Clashes after Shooting Erupts at Hospital

A man was killed on Wednesday by gunshots during armed clashes in the northern city of Tripoli, LBCI television reported.

“A man who hails from (Tripoli's area of) Jabal Mohsen was killed after he received a gunshot in his head in the city's al-Mouhajirin street,” it detailed, while MTV noted that his name is Talal Azaya.

Clashes erupted in the city after a shootout broke out earlier on Wednesday at the Qobbeh government hospital.

The hospital's incident was soon followed by the emergence of gunmen in the area between the Tripoli neighborhoods of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen and shells were also dropped in the region.

Taher Mohsen Jadeed and his brothers Youssef and Mehdi were wounded in the hospital shootout, reported OTV.

MTV said that five people were injured in the incident, which was prompted by a sectarian dispute.

The shooting was soon followed by the emergence of the gunmen near Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen, reported Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3).

It confirmed that the armed presence near the two neighborhoods was linked to the hospital shooting.

It added that the army soon blocked the roads that witnessed clashes in Tripoli in the past, including the Talaat al-Omari and Syria streets, as well as the Baqqar area.

LBCI television later reported that an Inerga-type rocket landed on Syria street in Tripoli.

The National News Agency said three hand grenades were hurled in Tripoli's al-Tabbaneh region.

MTV elaborated: "A bomb exploded in Bab al-Qamh and two Energa-type rifle-launched grenades were hurled in Tripoli's Syria street."

The TV channel added that ten people resulted wounded from these clashes, and were transferred to al-Saydeh hospital in the northern city of Zgharta for treatment.

The spokesman for the Arab Democratic Party Abdul Latif Saleh told LBCI: “The two injured men at the al-Qobbah hospital are military personnel and the army has transferred them to al-Saydeh hospital in Zgharta for treatment.”

Later on Wednesday evening, the Army Command issued a statement detailing the measures it has adopted to restore calm in the northern city: “Our forces have raided locations from which the gunshots were fired and several men have been arrested for being involved in the clashes.”

“Army patrols have also erected several checkpoints in the region.”

These developments came shortly after the assault against four Dar al-Fatwa sheikhs on Sunday in the Beirut neighborhoods of Shiyyah and Khandaq al-Ghamiq.

Tensions were also high in Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen over a dispute at a vegetable market on Saturday.

Gunshots were heard in Jabal Mohsen soon after the dispute.