14 Hurt as Clashes Renew between Bab al-Tabbaneh, Jabal Mohsen

At least fourteen people were wounded as armed clashes renewed on Sunday in the northern city of Tripoli after several days of relative calm.

State-run National News Agency said the fighting broke out at 7:00 p.m. between Jabal Mohsen and the neighboring areas of al-Amerkan and al-Baqqar before escalating and spreading to Bab al-Tabbaneh, Baal al-Darawish, Syria Street, al-Omari Street, Souk al-Qameh and Hariri Project.

“The sounds of machinegun fire and explosions are echoing in the area, amid sniper activity in Syria Street and the adjacent areas,” NNA said.

Fourteen people were wounded in the clashes, the agency added, identifying 13 of them as Haydar Slim, Mohammed Merehbi, Hasan Ibrahim, Taha al-Rizz, Bilal Abdul Latif, Elisar al-Kour, Ali al-Abed, Khodr Khodr, Mazen Yehia, Ayman Koja, Bilal al-Lababidi, Mohammed Taleb and a boy from the Othman family who was hit by a stray bullet in Abi Samra.

It said bullets reached al-Mitain Street, al-Zahriyeh, al-Thaqafeh Street and Abi Samra, which are outside the conflict zone.

Earlier, OTV said three children were wounded in Jabal Mohsen as Future TV said one person was wounded in Bab al-Tabbaneh.

Future TV said the army was shooting back at the sources of gunfire in Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen.

Sources from the Arab Democratic Party, the dominant political and armed force in Jabal Mohsen, told LBCI: “Gunmen suddenly opened gunfire against Jabal Mohsen from all frontiers in Bab al-Tabbaneh.”

The fighting forced the closure of the international highway linking Tripoli and Akkar and the roads leading to Tripoli's al-Zahriyeh, Bab al-Hadid and al-Mallouleh, NNA reported.

It later said clashes abated although sniper gunfire was still targeting Syria Street, al-Baqqar, al-Amerkan, Jabal Mohsen, Souk al-Qameh and Hariri Project.

At least 31 people were killed and more than 200 wounded in week-long gunbattles that ended on Monday.

The sectarian fighting between the two main neighborhoods of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen stretches back four decades to Lebanon's civil war. But it has become more frequent and increasingly lethal since the start of the Syrian conflict in 2011. The two districts support opposite sides.

Several houses, shops and cars had also been destroyed in the week-long gunbattles that pitted Sunnis that back the revolution against Syrian President Bashar Assad and mostly Alawites who are from Assad's sect.