15 deaths reported in Tripoli after pro- and anti-Assad clashes

Lebanese troops were deployed in the city of Tripoli yesterday after 15 people were killed in clashes between supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Local medics said it was the deadliest fighting in Lebanon since Syria’s uprising began.

Residents said relative calm had returned to the Mediterranean city since the soldiers took up positions around the city, after gunmen exchanged heavy machine-gun fire and rocket-propelled grenades.

Two people wounded in the fighting died yesterday, adding to the 13 killed on Saturday. Occasional gunfire could still be heard but was less intense than earlier exchanges.

Prime minister Najib Mikati held a crisis meeting in Tripoli at the weekend and instructed security forces to use an “iron fist”.

The mainly Sunni Muslim protests against Assad have polarised Tripoli, where a small community of Alawites – from the same offshoot of Shi’ite Islam as Assad – have frequently clashed with majority Sunni Muslims who support the uprising.