TRIPOLI, Lebanon
A minor exchange of fire erupted Sunday between residents of Sunni Bab al-Tebanneh district and Alawites from Jebel Mohsen in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli after a brief tense calm that followed deadly clashes between supporters and opponents of neighboring Syria's Bashar al-Assad regime.
One Lebanese soldier was killed in the early hours of Sunday and 6 others injured by militants, a military official told Anadolu Agency.
Sunday's violence marred a relative calm that overwhelmed in the restive city since Saturday.
Violence has raged in Tripoli's Alawite-majority Jabal Mohsen neighborhood and the Sunni-majority Bab al-Tabbaneh district in the past three days, in a repeated scenario of clashes that have occurred 20 times between the two districts over the last six years.
The soldier's killing raised the death toll of the most recent bout of violence to nine since Thursday, according to the official, while the number of the injured rose to 59.
The ongoing conflict in neighboring Syria has contributed to longstanding sectarian strife in next-door Lebanon.
By Ibrahim al-Ali
englishnews@aa.com.tr
