MIDDLE EAST: Lebanese troops deployed in the country's second largest city yesterday, bringing calm after two days of sectarian fighting that left at least nine dead and dented a deal to restore political stability.
Witnesses said soldiers and policemen in armoured troop carriers entered the outskirts of the northern city of Tripoli, scene of fighting between Sunni Muslim government supporters and Alawite gunmen close to the Hizbullah-led opposition.
The clashes subsided, then stopped as the forces deployed on the frontline between the Sunni Bab Tibbaneh area and Alawite Jabal Mohsen. The troops moved out into the small streets of both areas and gunmen disappeared.
Civilians returned behind the army to check their properties on the frontline with some shops and apartments still smouldering.
"Poor people on both sides pay the price," a man, who did not give his name, said as he checked his shop in the area. "The army must impose its authority on the ground and confiscate weapons from the hands of people."
The army said in a statement it would attempt to restore calm and warned that it would use force if necessary to end the bloodshed.
Last month Lebanon ended its 18-month political crisis with the Western-backed coalition and the Hizbullah-led opposition reaching a Qatari-mediated accord. The conflict had led to a violent showdown that threatened a new civil war.
Since then there have been frequent minor security incidents.
Delays in forming a national unity government, as stipulated in last month's accord, have raised fears of a further worsening in the security situation and a collapse in efforts to resolve the political standoff. The flare-up in Tripoli is the biggest test yet of the accord.
The city is dominated by Lebanon's anti-Syrian Sunni-led majority coalition while a majority of Alawites have close ties to Syria, which is ruled by an Alawite and is allied to the opposition.
Alawites are a small offshoot of Shia Islam which dominates the Baathist government in neighbouring Syria. Their numbers are small in Lebanon but they gained some political clout during Syria's military presence in Lebanon.