BICOM

Up to six people are reported to have been killed in clashes in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli yesterday during fighting between rival groups involved in the Syrian civil war.

Reuters says that violence broke out on Tuesday between fighters in the Sunni district of Bab Tabbaneh, affiliated with opponents of the Assad regime, and those in the Jebel Mohsen neighbourhood, an area dominated by President Assad’s Alawite sect. AP says the two neighbourhoods have long endured tense relations, but that violence has intensified since the start of Syria’s civil war more than two years ago.

Apparently, the violence between the two groups culminated yesterday when several people from both sides were killed by sniper fire. Up to fifty people are reported injured in the clashes. The violence will fuel fears that Syria’s bloody conflict will spill over Lebanon, which has absorbed huge numbers of Syrian refugees during the last two years. Syria has exerted an historical influence on Lebanon, with Syrian troops having occupied large areas of the country for almost three decades until 2005.

Meanwhile, Israel’s Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon warned yesterday that Lebanon has become the venue for a conflict between Hezbollah and elements of the Global Jihad movement. He said, “There is already a civil war in Lebanon. Global Jihad, which has infiltrated Lebanon and is attacking Hezbollah, is blowing up car bombs in Dahia and is firing rockets at Dahia and the Beka’a Valley,” referencing well-known Hezbollah strongholds. 

Ya’alon suggested that global jihadist groups were responsible for firing four rockets into northern Israel in August, in an attempt to elicit an Israeli response against Hezbollah. However, he noted that Hezbollah was quick to distance itself from any responsibility for the rocket fire which Ya’alon described as “another example of our deterrence capability.”