Intense clashes erupted in the Lebanese city Beirut – Georges Chahine A state of anxious calm spread over Tripoli on Wednesday morning after the Lebanese city suffered intense clashes that killed five and injured 30. The bout of violence was triggered by the killing of 21 Lebanese activists who supported the Syrian opposition . The Lebanese army has warned armed militants that they would respond firmly to anyone playing with the state’s stability and security.
Syria will return the bodies of the pro-revolutionaries to Lebanon by the end of next week. Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri has announced that he will not stop “supporting the Syrian revolution and its democratic forces against all challenges.”
According to reports from the north of the country, clashes continued sporadically until dawn on Wednesday. Many residences were burned down, especially in Chaarani district, Hariri Project and Jabal Mohsen. The death toll rose to five after Khidr Hannoun was killed by a sniper bullet in the Bedawi area. About 30 people were injured, according to medical sources.
Militants torched a school owned by an Alawite man and open fire in supposedly quieter areas tension in order to terrorise residents until the early morning. The army started to retaliate in the early hours of the morning. One man, who was arrested, was carrying an advanced sniper rifle.
The army patrolled many Tripoli streets, especially around the areas where the clashes have occurred. Universities and schools closed their doors on Wednesday.
Rumours are currently spreading on the fate of Rifaat Ali Eid. Unconfirmed reports said that the official in the pro-Assad Arab Alawite Democratic Party had left Tripoli for the United States.
Amid these reports, Eid said: “The problem in Tripoli now is that late Major General Wissam al-Hassan armed the fighters in Bab el-Tebbaneh then died. Things have therefore gone loose, because the one who moved the militants around and controlled their rhythm has gone.”
His party’s response to the gunfire, he said, was limited and happens only when the army cannot intervene. When the army performs its role, he said, the party displays maximum restraint.
Eid questioned the reasoning behind the attacks, saying: “If there is someone the victims’ family should hold accountable, it should be the leader of the Future Movement, Saad Hariri and MP Okab Sakr because they bear the responsibility of mobilising their children and inciting them.”
Hariri met with a Syrian National Coalition delegation in his home in the Saudi city of Riyadh. A press release by the former prime minister’s office said the meeting discussed the coalition’s goals as the revolution approached victory. Hariri also reaffirmed his support for “the Syrian revolution and its democratic forces against all challenges, until the moment when a national, democratic leadership rises in Syria from the rabble of tyranny.”
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati had called on the people of Tripoli on Tuesday to remain calm, not allow themselves to be drawn by attempts to stoke the fires of conflict in the city and be wary of rumours and attempts to incense feelings of anger and grief in order to place the city at the centre of a cycle of violence.
Arabstoday has learned that the families of victims have been informed that the Syrian Red Crescent has prepared 14 bodies for burial after they were separated from three bodies belonging to Syrians killed in the same operation. No information is available regarding the fate of the injured as rumours about prisoners being killed are spreading.
No time has been officially set by the concerned authorities in Syria or the country’s embassy in Beirut. The embassy had reported international pressures that accompanied the prime minister’s request for an International Red Cross intervention.
The sources refused to provide information on military negotiations between the two countries, saying contact between the military commands of the two countries is operating at the bare minimum of field coordination.
The Syrian ambassador in Beirut Ali Abdulkarim has relayed to the Lebanese foreign minister and other officials the decision of the Syrian authorities to deliver the bodies of the pro-revolutionary Lebanese men.
Arabstoday has learned that the bodies will be taken to Lebanese General Security authorities.  Armed forces will then deliver the bodies to their families in the villages of Akkar and the city of Tripoli. Security measures will be put in place to prevent large gatherings of local residents at the border.
Local political and spiritual leaders have called on citizens to maintain calm and restraint until the bodies of the victims arrive in Lebanon, amid doubts that Syria will fulfill its promise, which would increase tensions in the city.
The army command released a statement Wednesday saying it was continuing to work in Bab al-Tabbaneh, Jabal Mohsen and other neighbourhoods experiencing tensions and “occasional sniper attacks.”
The report said army units had patrolled the city, established checkpoints, immediately responded to the sources of gunfire and conducted large-scale raids on the militants’ locations and arrested five people suspected of using firearms. A quantity of military weapons and ammunitions were recovered from the suspects, the report added.
The army statement reported that two soldiers had been injured and some military machinery sustained damage.
Meanwhile, Lebanese border hamlets in the north of the country are being subjected to heavy tank and artillery bombardment by Syrian forces. The villages of Hekr Junain and Dababia and the outskirts of al-Noura are especially affected. There have been no reports of injuries.
Fear and confusion dominated the mood among residents, especially those living in homes near the banks of Nahr al-Kabir al-Janoubi, after bombardment began early in the evening.