Fighting rages on in Tripoli

The Tripoli fighting casts a shadow over a deal that ended a bitter political conflict between rival alliances.

Lebanese Sunni residents of Tripoli's Bab al-Tebbaneh neighbourhood take refuge inside a school as they flee the area of clashes yesterday.

BEIRUT // Top religious, security and political leaders in Tripoli, in north Lebanon, scrambled today to contain the most serious outbreak of violence yet between two feuding neighbourhoods in Lebanon's second largest city. Nine people have died, including a 10-year-old child, and more than 100 have been wounded in two days of clashes between rival partisans in the mainly Alawite-populated Jabal Mohsen neighbourhood and the adjacent district of Tebbaneh, where Sunnis are the majority. Major Gen Ashraf Rifi, head of the Internal Security Forces, predicted that the violence would end within hours amid an increased deployment of police and troops. "The instructions given by the president, prime minister and interior minister are to deal firmly with any breach of security, and the army and the ISF have made reinforcements to impose security and protect the city," he said after a meeting of security officials in Tripoli. The violence came as a committee of ministers charged with writing up the policy statement of the new government remained deadlocked over the role of the "resistance", Hizbollah's armed wing. "What has happened in Tripoli was not because of a dispute between the Sunnis and Alawites, but it is a political explosion caused by the impasse over the drafting of the ministerial statement," said Malek al Shaar, the mufti of Tripoli. "I regret the fact that the army did not execute its responsibilities properly and I call on the president to pay more attention to what is happening in Tripoli." After the last outburst of violence between the two neighbourhoods this month, Lebanese troops deployed in strength to prevent further clashes. But armed militants on both sides have been walking the streets with impunity and within eyeshot of soldiers since the fighting erupted two days ago. Ahmad Fatfat, a former minister and leading figure in the Future Movement, in an interview with Al Mustaqbal newspaper today accused the army of "negligence" in failing to intercede in the fighting and called on the military to be "firm and decisive". But a senior Lebanese army officer said a forceful response by the military could increase the number of civilian casualties. "This is a civilian area and if we use force to try to stop them fighting, civilians will be hurt. It is a very difficult situation for the army," the officer said on condition of anonymity. This morning, Lebanese troops were reported to have returned fire at a sniper positioned in Jabal Mohsen. On Friday night, Ziad Baroud, the newly appointed interior minister, held a meeting of top security chiefs to draw up a plan to contain the violence. He said "firmness and decisiveness" were required. "I think that this is what the people await, and we stand by them throughout the chaos, chaos that is totally unacceptable by and to all citizens," he said. The fighting today mainly involved snipers on both sides trading fire, as hundreds of residents in the area fled. Many of those who chose to stay behind were seeking shelter in underground car parks and basements of buildings. The main road leading north from Tripoli and several streets in the city were closed to traffic because of the risk of being struck by sniper fire. Future Movement MPs are blaming Hizbollah, which heads the opposition, of fomenting the violence in Tripoli by providing arms and training to the Alawites of Jabal Mohsen. "We call on the army and national security forces to expose those that are smuggling arms into Tripoli," said Mustafa Alloush, a Future Movement MP. "What is happening in Tripoli serves Syria's interests and promotes its return to Lebanon." But a statement released by the chief Alawite political body, the Arab Democratic Party, which is headquartered in Jabal Mohsen, said the group supported Mufti Shaar's attempts to broker a ceasefire. The statement warned against "further deterioration of the situation into ? civil war. This is the aim of the Zionist enemy and its allies." An expected visit to Damascus by Michel Suleiman, the Lebanese president, has been delayed by the impasse over the new ministerial statement. Tarek Mitri, the incoming information minister, said the committee drafting the statement has reached agreement on almost all the key topics; Lebanon-Syria relations, internal security, commitment to UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 Hizbollah-Israel war, the international tribunal to judge the accused killers of Rafiq Hariri, a former prime minister, the Doha accord that ended several days fighting in May, and the parliamentary elections scheduled for 2009. "One topic remains pending. That is the role of the resistance," Mr Mitri said. "The nation is clearly split and this split should be taken into consideration in all discussions." Hizbollah insists on the statement carrying the wording "the resistance's right to liberate the occupied territories", namely the Shebaa Farms, rather than the alternative phrase "Lebanon's right to liberate the occupied territories", a line favoured by the March 14 parliamentary majority. The fate of Hizbollah's arms is due to top the agenda of a national dialogue, hosted by Mr Suleiman, which is to begin as soon as the ministerial statement is completed. @email:[e-mail]