Sunni and Alawite fighters clash in Tripoli

(21 Aug 2012) The Lebanese Army was forced to withdraw from Tripoli, Lebanon's second largest city on Tuesday after Syria's conflict spilled across the border. Security officials said clashes between supporters and opponents of Assad have left two dead and as many as 45 wounded. The latest clashes were between gunmen from the Sunni neighbourhood of Jabal Mohsen and the next door district of Bab Tabbaneh, which is mostly populated by followers of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. Syria's President Bashar Assad is a member of Syria's Alawite minority, while rebels fighting his regime are predominantly Sunnis. The army said the injured include nine Lebanese soldiers in the fighting that broke out on Monday night in the port city of Tripoli. Army units in armoured vehicles were forced to withdraw on Tuesday afternoon after coming under a hail of machinegun fire and rocket-propelled grenade attacks after they had tried to intervene to subdue the violence. The mostly Sunni city also saw gun battles in May, when fighting over Syria killed eight people. The streets around the two districts were sealed off by roadblocks to keep people away from the line of snipers' fire, but life went on normally in the rest of the city despite the occasional sound of gunfire. 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...