One person was killed and six people were wounded in a clash between two rival factions in the northern town of Tripoli, police reported. The 30-minute firefight, in which assault rifles were used, pitted the Islamic Unification Movement against the Tripoli Brigades in the town's Shiraa square of Abu Samra district, a police spokesman told Naharnet.
Police patrols and army units intervened and brought the clash to an end, he added. The fatality was identified as IUM member Nawaf al-Haidar. The casualties included Usama Shabaan, son if IUM founder Sheikh Saeed Shabaan, the police spokesman said.
The IUM is a local Sunni faction that is backed by Syria and Iran. The Tripoli Brigades is a local faction that supports the March 14 majority alliance. Army units and police patrols cordoned off Shiraa square pending surrender of "all gunmen involved in the clash," the spokesman added without further elaboration.
| Presumably this is the same IUM that was active during the civil war, doing approximately the same things they did during the civil war, at this moment on the side of Syria and Iran. I think at one point Syria all but wiped out their leadership in the good olde days. The Tripoli Brigades sounds like a pickup team. |
The army has been entrusted with the task of maintaining law and order since ex-President Emile Lahoud ended his term in office at midnight Friday after parliament failed to elect a successor. |