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Clashes in northern Lebanese city kill 3 as Syria tensions spill across the border

By: Hussein Malla, The Associated Press

Posted: 05/13/2012 5:02 AM | Comments: 0 | Last Modified: 05/13/2012 8:48 AM

Sunni gunmen fire their rifles during clashes, in the northern port city of Tripoli, Lebanon, Sunday May 13, 2012. Gunfire broke out in the city Saturday and continued through the night primarily between a neighborhood populated by Sunni Muslims who hate Syrian President Bashar Assad and another area with many Assad backers from his Alawite sect. Lebanon's national news agency NNA said one soldier was shot dead by a sniper in the city early Sunday. Another man was found dead on the side of a road while a third died after a shell landed in a residential neighborhood. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

TRIPOLI, Lebanon - Sectarian violence linked to the unrest in neighbouring Syria shook the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli on Sunday, with street clashes killing one soldier and two civilians, the state news agency said.

The fighting highlights how easily trouble in Syria can raise tensions in neighbouring Lebanon, with which it shares a complex web of political and sectarian ties and rivalries.

Residents said running gunbattles broke out in the city Saturday and continued through the night primarily between a neighbourhood populated by Sunni Muslims opposed to Syrian President Bashar Assad and another area with many Assad backers from his Alawite sect.

Lebanon's national news agency NNA said one soldier was shot dead by a sniper in the city early Sunday. Another man was found dead on the side of a road while a third died after a shell landed in a residential neighbourhood.

An Associated Press reporter in Tripoli said the Lebanese army sent reinforcements to the city, but that intermittent clashes continued Sunday with gunmen shooting at each other with automatic rifles. Heavier weapons, like rocket-propelled grenades, have also been fired.

At one point, the Lebanese army shot at group of men in a street, some of them armed, wounding two men. Residents rushed then to a hospital. One had been shot in the chest and appeared seriously wounded.

Similar clashes in the area in February killed two people.

The 14-month-old conflict in Syria has exacerbated sectarian and political tensions in Lebanon, and many fear Syria's chaos will eventually spill across the border.

Lebanon is sharply split along sectarian lines, with 18 religious sects. But it also has a fragile political fault line precisely over the issue of Syria.

An array of pro-Syrian parties support Assad's regime, as do many Lebanese citizens. Others oppose Assad and accuse Damascus of heavy-handed meddling in Lebanese politics.

The two sides are the legacy of, and backlash against, Syria's virtual rule over Lebanon from 1976 to 2005 and its continued influence since.

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