Tension Escalates in Tripoli as Army Starts Removing Barricades in Rival Neighborhoods
Heavy gunfire was reported in the northern city of Tripoli on Tuesday as tension escalated between the rival neighborhoods of Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh after the army began removing barricades in the rival areas.
According to the state-run National News Agency, the gunshots prompted schools to suspend classes for the day, fearing any escalations.
Media reports said that the Lebanese army began removing the barricades and sandbags from the the rival neighborhoods.
Calm was shortly restored in the city.
Violence regularly erupts between Alawite residents of the Jabal Mohsen neighborhood, who support their co-religionist Syrian President Bashar Assad, and Sunnis from the Bab al-Tabbaneh district, who back Sunni-led Syrian rebels.
Tripoli's population is 80 percent Sunni and 11 percent Alawite -- an offshoot of Shiite Islam -- and violence between the two communities dates back to Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.
But the tensions have been aggravated by the conflict in Syria, and the city was struck by a deadly double car bombing in August that killed 45 people.
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