Naharnet

Report: March 14 Coalition to Hold National Conference in Tripoli to Address Security Chaos

The March 14 alliance will hold a conference in the northern city of Tripoli to urge all fighting sides to end the chaos in the city, the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa newspaper reported on Friday.

The daily reported that the conference is to stress the importance of coexistence, the joint national responsibility and civil peace in the northern city.

The report said that the conference will include various religious, political, economic, civil society organization and lawmakers in Tripoli.

The attendees are expected to issue a final statement that rejects to consider Tripoli as a city for a certain sect that excludes all other.

The final statement will also reject violence as a mean to impose a certain political stance, terrorist acts and extremism.

It will also call on the rival parties to prioritize the security situation in the northern city.

Tripoli is regularly the scene of violence between its Sunni majority and a minority of Alawites -- the religious community from which Syria's President Bashar Assad hails.

Violence has usually pitted the Sunni neighborhood of Bab al-Tabbaneh, which backs the Syrian uprising, against the neighborhood of Jabal Mohsen, which is populated by Alawites.

The latest, week-long battle killed 15 people on both sides and ended earlier this month when the army deployed along Syria Street, which separates the two districts and acts as the makeshift frontline.

The Syrian uprising, which pits a Sunni-dominated rebellion against the Assad government, has inflamed existing sectarian tensions in Lebanon.


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