Fierce battles raged in northern Lebanon on Sunday between rival clans as the Hezbollah-led opposition said it was ending its takeover of west Beirut.
A security official said the fighting in the north was between Sunni supporters of the Western-backed government and members of an Alawite sect loyal to Hezbollah. He added that thousands were fleeing and a number of people had been wounded.
The battles, which erupted overnight, were concentrated in the Bab al-Tebbaneh, Kobbeh and Jabal Mohsen neighbourhoods located on the northern edge of the coastal city.
”About 7 000 people have fled from Bab al-Tebbaneh, which marks the frontlines, because of the battles,” he said.
Residents of Tripoli could hear heavy machine-gun fire and the thump of exploding rocket-propelled grenades, some of which fell inside the city, an Agence France-Presse correspondent said.
The unrest came despite a return to calm in the capital, Beirut, on Saturday, which was the scene of fierce sectarian fighting between mainly Sunni supporters of the ruling bloc and Shi’ite militants from the opposition.
The opposition announced that it was ending its takeover of large swaths of west Beirut after the army revoked government moves against the Shi’ite group that sparked days of deadly fighting.
”The opposition welcomes the army’s decision and will proceed with the withdrawal of all its armed elements so that control of the capital is handed over to the military,” an opposition statement said.
The announcement came shortly after the army said it was overturning a government decision to reassign the head of Beirut airport security and to probe a communications network set up by Hezbollah.
But lawmaker Ali Hassan Khalil of Hezbollah’s Shi’ite ally, Amal, said the opposition would maintain a civil disobedience campaign against the government.
Amal militants were among the first to pull back from the streets of west Beirut after four days of bitter clashes that left at least 34 people dead nationwide and brought the country dangerously close to a new civil war.
The White House welcomed Saturday’s lessening of violence in Lebanon but warned that ”our concerns regarding Hezbollah are unchanged.”
The takeover of west Beirut was a dramatic display of Hezbollah’s military might and capacity to impose its will.
The army urged all armed militants off the streets in a bid to end the violence, which also forced the closure of Lebanon’s only civilian airport and Beirut port.
”The army command calls on all parties to [help restore calm] by ending armed protests and withdrawing gunmen from the streets and opening the roads,” a statement said. — AFP
