HIC Calls on Announcing Tripoli Arms-Free City

The Higher Islamic Council called on Saturday for announcing Tripoli an arms-free city, criticizing the clashes between the rival neighborhoods Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh.

“The security situation in Tripoli is isn't related to local affairs. It became a hotspot for sedition,” the deputy head of the Higher Islamic Council Omar Mesqawi said after chairing an extraordinary meeting for the HIC.

He told reporters that the participants discussed the situation in the northern city of Tripoli.

At least 26 people were killed and around 204 others have been wounded in the fighting that erupted in Tripoli on Sunday.

The violence is tied to the conflict in Syria, where a Sunni-led uprising is fighting to overthrow the regime of President Bashar Assad, an Alawite.

The fighting in Tripoli, which has flared sporadically since the beginning of the Syria conflict in March 2011, has been largely confined to the two neighborhoods of Alawite Jabal Mohsen neighbourhood against those in the adjacent Sunni Muslim Bab el-Tebbaneh district.

“The HIC calls on the security forces to fully carry out their role” in restoring calm in the city, Mesqawi added.

He noted that all the Lebanese should express solidarity with the “sufferings” of the residents of Tripoli on all stages.

The HIC statement, read by Mesqawi, also called on President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister Najib Miqati to assume their responsibilities and swiftly take “all the necessary legal and security measures against offenders in Tripoli.”