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At least nine killed in heavy clashes in northern Lebanon

Lebanese tanks were out on the streets of Tripoli yesterday after nine people including a boy were killed in sectarian fighting that raged through the night in the northern port city.

Militants from the rival Sunni Muslim and Alawite communities battled with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons in the latest bout of violence to rock the Mediterranean city.

“The army is working for real calm in the north,” an army official said, but added: “Security requires political agreement.”

Lebanon has been hit by sporadic outbreaks of violence despite a power-sharing deal between rival political factions in May that led to the election of Michel Suleiman as president and the creation of a unity Cabinet.

The latest unrest came after the new Cabinet hit snags in deliberations aimed at drawing up a policy agenda ahead of a parliamentary vote of confidence that would enable the government to be officially installed.

The army was on high alert, with tanks and armored vehicles patrolling the streets to keep the peace between fighters in the mainly Sunni Bab al-Tebbaneh district and the neighboring and largely Alawite area of Jabal Mohsen.

Among the dead were a 10-year-old boy and two women, while 50 people were injured in the fighting that first erupted early on Friday, the security official said.

Intense fighting raged through the night despite a ceasefire that went into effect at 3pm on Friday, but by yesterday morning the situation was generally calm.

However, residents of Bab al-Tebbaneh were blocking a motorway to the border with Syria with rocks and tires in protest at the arrest of two fellow inhabitants over the fighting.

Shops in the area were closed and many families who evacuated their homes near the main battle zone were taking refuge in schools.

“The army has sent reinforcements to the battle zones to secure the ceasefire and the army command has promised us to firmly respond to any violation of the ceasefire,” Sunni member of parliament Mohammed Abdel Latif Kabbara of the parliamentary ruling majority said.

Interior Minister Ziad Barud and the head of the internal security forces Ashraf Rifi headed to Tripoli late on Friday to see the situation for themselves and to assess measures to restore calm.
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