Syrian violence spills into Lebanon

22 Aug 2012, 1:00 pm   -   Source: AAP
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A child is among four people killed in clashes between pro and anti-Syrian regime supporters in north Lebanon.

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At least four people have been killed, including a child, and 43 wounded in clashes between pro and anti-Damascus regime supporters in north Lebanon, security and army officials say.

One person was killed in Bab el-Tebbaneh, the mainly Sunni district of the northern port of Tripoli, and three died in the largely Alawite area of Jabal Mohsen in the city, a security official said, updating an earlier toll.

Ten soldiers were wounded as well as 33 civilians, both Sunni and Alawite, officials said, while a 13-year-old boy was among those killed.

The fighting erupted late on Monday in Tripoli, home to a Sunni community hostile to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and a community of Alawites, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam to which the Syrian leader belongs.

The clashes come days after a wave of kidnappings targeting Syrians in Lebanon, which lived under three decades of Syrian hegemony and remains deeply divided between supporters and opponents of Damascus.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati warned against the "absurd battle" rocking his hometown, Lebanon's second largest city.

"We have repeatedly warned against being drawn into this blaze that has spread around Lebanon," he said of the violence in Syria. "But it is clear that several parties wanted to push Lebanon into the conflict."

Mikati pleaded with Tripoli residents "not to allow anyone to transform you into ammunition for someone else's war."

He called on the security forces to "do their utmost to stop this absurd battle."

The violence was centred around the aptly named Syria Street, the symbolic "dividing line" between the rival Tripoli districts of Bab el-Tebbaneh and Jabal Mohsen.

Lebanon's military said on Tuesday it "has seized a quantity of guns, bombs and ammunition."

Tripoli has been rocked by deadly clashes in recent months between supporters and opponents of the Damascus regime as the conflict in Syria worsened with more than 23,000 reportedly killed there since March 2011.

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