TRIPOLI - Ongoing clashes in Lebanon's northern city of Tripoli between factions supporting and opposed to the revolt in neighbouring Syria left one person dead on Sunday, a source in the security forces said. The man was killed in clashes in Bab al-Tebbaneh between residents of the predominantly Sunni Muslim district, hostile to the Syrian regime, and residents of the Jabal Mohsen district belonging to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's Alawite community, the source said. A resident of the largely Sunni district of Kobbe was killed in similar clashes on Saturday, which also left five injured. Clashes are common between the two Muslim sects in Tripoli. In a separate incident, an army officer was killed by sniper fire after clashes broke out on Saturday night between the army and a group of young Islamists, who were demonstrating in Tripoli for the release of a terrorism suspect, another security source said. The outbreak of gunfire first erupted between the Islamists and the army happened as the youths, sympathisers with the ongoing revolt in Syria, tried to approach the offices of the pro-Assad Syrian Social Nationalist Party. About 10O young men, mostly Islamists, blocked the northern and southern roads into Tripoli, setting up camp at the southern entrance of Lebanon's second city. Black flags bearing the profession of Islam, "God is Great", were planted alongside the Syrian flag of independence, a symbol of revolt in the neighbouring country. "We will not leave until my brother is released," said Nizar al-Mawlawi, whose 27-year-old brother Shadi was arrested by Lebanese security forces. According to a statement from the Lebanese security services, Shadi al-Mawlawi was arrested as part of an "investigation into his ties to a terrorist organisation," without going into details.
