Tripoli a ReflectionOf Syria’s Sectarian War

Haytham Mouzahem (Syria Pulse)

May 24, 2013

Lebanese Sunni gunmen ride on motorcycles during the funeral of one of their colleagues in Lebanon's northern city of Tripoli May 20, 2013. Three people have been killed and about 40 wounded in two days of fighting in Tripoli, security sources said on Monday, as sectarian violence spilled over from the civil war in Syria. REUTERS/Omar Ibrahim (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTXZTWV — Lebanese Sunni gunmen ride on motorcycles during the funeral of one of their colleagues in Lebanon's northern city of Tripoli, May 20, 2013. — REUTERS/Omar Ibrahim

The continued clashes between Sunni and Alawite fighters in the city of Tripoli in northern Lebanon have resulted in 31 killed and more than 250 wounded since Sunday (May 19). The continuation of violence with the warring parties using mortars and heavy weaponry for the first time has raised concerns that it could escalate into a new civil war as a spillover of the Syrian civil war.

The Lebanese army has deployed its troops in the Alawite neighborhood Jebel Mohsen that supports the Syrian government, and it was attempting to complete its deployment in the Sunni Bab al-Tabaneh district, which supports the armed opposition in Syria. But the fighters of Bab al-Tabaneh have conditioned that on the surrender of Rifaat Eid, the Alawite leader of the Lebanese Arab Democratic Party, to the Lebanese army.