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A man holds a rocket-propelled grenade launcher during clashes in Tripoli, Lebanon, Saturday, Feb. 11, 2012. Lebanese security officials say clashes between pro- and anti-Syria gunmen in a northern Lebanese city have left one person dead and several wounded. The officials say the two sides fired on each other from two rival neighborhoods in Tripoli, one dominated by Sunnis, the other by Alawites, a Shiite offshoot sect. They say clashes started Friday night and continued sporadically until Saturday. (AP Photo)
(Reuters) Two people were killed and at least eight wounded in street battles in Lebanon's northern city of Tripoli on Saturday, a security source said, during a second day of clashes between supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
The coastal city is dominated by Sunni Muslims who support the 11-month uprising against Assad in neighboring Syria, and is also home to members of Assad's Alawite minority. The two communities frequently clash, but tensions have heightened since the outbreak of unrest in Syria.
Residents said rocket-propelled grenades were fired from the Sunni Muslim district of Bab al-Tabbaneh towards the Alawite district of Jebel Mohsen on Friday, but caused no injuries.
On Saturday, Reuters Television footage showed gunmen taking cover on street corners and firing volleys of automatic gunfire.
"We are the supporters of the Syrian revolution in Lebanon, and we are going to fight the shabbiha," one of the gunmen said, referring to pro-Assad militias blamed by Syrian opposition activists for much of the killing in Syria.
A Lebanese army statement said troops had deployed in the Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jebel Mohsen districts to restore order and were raiding areas that took part in the clashes, making arrests and seizing weapons.
Several soldiers were wounded, one seriously, it said.
One man also died on Saturday after a weapons store exploded in the Abu Samra district of Tripoli.
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