REUTERS, SKY NEWS, BBC (UK), AL JAZEERA (UAE)
Sectarian violence in Lebanon escalated Tuesday night, claiming at least 10 lives, Reuters reports, as the Syrian crisis spills over to its neighbors.
Old tensions between Sunni Muslims and Alawites in Lebanon’s second city Tripoli have flared up due to the continuing Syrian conflict, which has seen Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite minority clash with the mainly Sunni opposition.
The Lebanese government is attempting to quell the violence between the Sunni district of Bab al-Tabbaneh and the neighboring Alawite district Jebel Mohsen.
The BBC reported that Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, a Sunni, urged citizens “not to allow anyone to transform you into ammunition for someone else’s war.”
Referring to the Syrian crisis, he said: “We have repeatedly warned against being drawn into this blaze that has spread around Lebanon.”
Over 100 people have been wounded since violence erupted Monday night. According to Reuters, rocket-fuelled grenades shook the city in the small hours of Wednesday morning.
Al Jazeera reports that a Lebanese Shia clan last week kidnapped at least 23 Sunni Muslims and a Turkish businessman in retaliation to the Free Syrian Army’s kidnapping of one of the clansmen.
