Gunmen Kill Hizbullah Supporter, Two Others in Tripoli
Masked gunmen shot dead a Hizbullah supporter and two other men, including a member of the security forces, in the northern city of Tripoli early Thursday, a security official said.
"Masked men on motorbikes shot dead Hussam al-Mouri, a security official and a third man who happened to be at the scene," the official said.
Mouri was a known supporter of Hizbullah, a key ally of Syria's President Bashar Assad, and has been target of previous assassination attempts.
He headed an armed group in the northern city which last year clashed with militiamen opposed to Hizbullah and Assad's regime.
The majority of residents of the port city support the 29-month anti-Assad rebellion in neighboring Syria, and resent Hizbullah's decision to send fighters to support the army there.
Mouri, who was in his 40s, and the two other men were standing at the entrance to his home when the gunmen drove up and shot them, the official said.
"The army has deployed in the al-Zahriyeh district" in central Tripoli, near Mouri's home, the official said.
Tripoli has seen frequent Syria-related violence over the past two years, including waves of deadly clashes.
Though Lebanon is officially neutral in Syria's conflict, the country is deeply divided, with Hizbullah and its allies backing Assad and the opposition supporting the rebels.
Hizbullah's deployment of troops to support the Syrian army took tensions in Lebanon to new heights, particularly after fighters from the movement helped Assad's regime reclaim the former Syrian rebel bastion of Qusayr in June.
Source: Agence France Presse, Naharnet
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