Syrian uprising spreads to Lebanon

Gunbattles erupted in Lebanon’s second largest city, Tripoli, following the arrest of Lebanese Sunni Muslim activist, Shadi Mawlawi, an outspoken critic of the Syrian president.

The clashes began late on Saturday after police broke up a sit-in protesting against the authorities’ detention of Mr Mawlawi. He and five others, including a Qatari, a Jordanian and a Palestinian, were charged with terrorist offences inside and outside Lebanon, and may be sent for a military trial.

A small Alawite minority – the same Shi’ite Muslim sect as the president – is concentrated in Tripoli, a conservative Sunni city in which residents have been enraged by the Syrian government’s crackdown.

Three people were killed in the city’s Alawite enclave over the weekend, including a soldier hit by sniper fire. Women and children have now begun leaving Sunni neighbourhoods of the northern port town amid fears that a decades-old sectarian struggle between the Alawites and the Sunnis will be re-ignited after a civil war which ended more than 20 years ago.

Plea to intervene

Over the last few days, gunmen holed up in bullet-marked buildings fired assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. The Sunni population supporting the uprising clashed with Sunni fighters and Alawites who support President Assad.

Sunnis have blamed the Alawites, pleading for the Lebanese government to intervene. “We are calling for this government, which has distanced itself until now, to get involved and stop those criminals in Jabal Mohsen, the followers of Bashar al-Assad, and to send the army in to control the situation. Until now the violations by the followers of Bashar al-Assad continue and we cannot remain silent. For how long? One, two, three days and then what?” cleric, Sheikh Bilal al-Masri, said.

Another cleric, who asked not to be named, said: “So far there is no agreement to deploy the army. They are afraid of creating another conflict between the army and the fighters. I’m worried the problems here in Tripoli will only spread until they agree on doing something.”

Sporadic fighting also took place between armed Sunnis and the Lebanese army near a main Sunni district over the weekend, and security sources said military has been reticent to become dragged into the conflict.

Tanks and carriers

Yesterday, the Lebanese army sent armoured personel carriers onto the streets of Tripoli, with tanks deployed on the edges of the suburbs today.

Islamist groups and officials were meeting in Tripoli on Monday to try to solve the crisis.

The tensions have been fuelled by the unrest across the border in Syria, which continues to face daily bloodshed in the 14-month old battle to oust President Assad. The United Nations says more than 9,000 people have been killed in the 14-month struggle, despite a so-called ceasefire agreement brokered by envoy Kofi Annan, which has failed to bring an end to the violence.

Last night, Syrian government forces shelled the town of Rastan. The Free Syrian Army claimed that they had killed 23 soldiers today in street battles.