Lebanese soldier killed in new Syria-related clashes

A soldier was killed Thursday as pro- and anti-Syrian regime supporters clashed in Lebanon’s second city Tripoli, breaking an army-imposed truce, a security official said.

“A soldier was killed by a bullet to the head,” the source said, not long after reporting at least six soldiers were among eight wounded during fighting in Bab al-Tebbaneh, a neighborhood that has been at the center of unrest for more than a year.

The latest fighting comes after authorities decided on Monday to place Tripoli under army control for six months after a wave of sectarian killings linked to Syria’s war left 11 dead in the main northern city.

Residents of the Sunni district of Bab el-Tebbaneh had been locked in fighting with people in the neighboring Alawite district of Jabal Mohsen since Saturday.

Tensions between the neighborhoods date back to Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war but have been exacerbated by the conflict across the border in Syria, where Alawite President Bashar al-Assad is battling a Sunni-led uprising.

Thursday’s shooting broke out after a group of young men accosted a Lebanese television team filming on Syria Street, which divides the two districts.

“The army intervened, and gunfire erupted between them and the soldiers... which degenerated into shooting from both neighborhoods and the army responding in both directions,” the security official said.