Soldier, 2 civilians killed as sectarian clashes rock Lebanese coast city

Tripoli sees spillover from Syrian fighting; five killed in village north of Hama

TRIPOLI, Lebanon (AP) — Sectarian violence linked to the unrest in neighboring Syria shook the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli on Sunday, with the state news agency reporting a soldier and two civilians killed in the street clashes.

The fighting highlights how easily trouble in Syria can raise tensions in Lebanon, with which it shares a complex web of political and sectarian ties and rivalries.

Residents say gunfire broke out in the city Saturday and continued through the night primarily between a neighborhood populated by Sunni Muslims who hate Syrian President Bashar Assad and another area with many Assad backers from his Alawite sect.

Lebanon’s national news agency NNA said one soldier was shot dead by a sniper in the city early Sunday. Another man was found dead on the side of a road while a third died after a shell landed in a residential neighborhood.

An Associated Press reporter in the city said the Lebanese army sent reinforcements to the city, but that gunmen still patrolled the streets and intermittently shot at each other with automatic rifles. Heavier weapons, like rocket-propelled grenades, have also been fired.

Similar clashes in the area in February killed two people.

The fourteen month-old conflict in Syria has exacerbated sectarian and political tensions in Lebanon, and many fear Syria’s chaos will eventually bleed across the border.

Lebanon is sharply split along sectarian lines, with 18 religious sects. But it also has a fragile political fault line precisely over the issue of Syria.

An array of pro-Syrian parties support Assad’s regime, as do many Lebanese citizens. Others hate Assad and accuse Damascus of heavy-handed meddling in Lebanese politics.

In neighboring Syria, activists said regime forces killed at least five people during a raid on a northwestern farming village.

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The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said troops torched homes in the village of al-Tamana about 55 kilometers (35 miles) northwest of the city of Hama and put the death toll at five.

Activist Mousab Alhamadee said Sunday that residents had recovered six bodies after the raid the day before.

The attack followed anti-regime protests, and one of the dead was a rebel leader, he said.

Fourteen months into the uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad, Syrian forces regularly raid opposition areas despite having agreeing to a U.N.-backed cease-fire.