4:3 Clashes between militants in pro and anti Assad neighbourhoods
(11 Feb 2012) 1. Wide of Lebanese army Humvee in Bab Al-Tabanah UPSOUND gunfire 2. Two militants running across street UPSOUND gunfire 3. Wide of armoured personnel carrier, man runs past UPSOUND gunfire 4. Low angle of empty street UPSOUND gunfire 5. Mid of Sunni militant fighters 6. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) name not given, Sunni militant fighter: "We are concerned of this issue and we hope God will help us to go there, to Syria, and help them." 7. Various of buildings pock marked with holes from fighting 8. Lebanese army convoy driving past STORYLINE: Lebanese army vehicles patrolled parts of Tripoli in northern Lebanon on Saturday as clashes continued between two rival militant groups, one of which supports the regime in Syria and the other that opposes it. The fighting has been between Sunni militants from the Bab Al-Tabanah neighbourhood and Alawite militants from the Jabal Mohsen neighbourhood. The Alawites support Syrian President Bashar Assad, while the Sunnis oppose the regime. Syria's 22 (m) million people are overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim, but Assad and the ruling elite belong to the Alawite sect, which comprises about 10 percent of the population. The political domination by Alawites in Syria has bred seething resentment, which Assad tried to tamp down by enforcing the strictly secular ideology of his Baath Party. But as the uprising surged, with Sunnis making up the backbone of the revolt, Assad called heavily upon his Alawite power base to crush the resistance, feeding sectarian tensions like those that fuelled civil wars in Iraq and Lebanon. Shooting in Tripoli first broke out on Friday as gunmen deployed heavily in the two neighbourhoods. A Sunni Muslim fighter, who did not want to give his name, said on Saturday that they wanted to go to Syria to support their brothers. The Lebanese army has been patrolling both neighbourhoods in a bid to impose a ceasefire but has so far failed to restore calm. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
