TRIPOLI, Lebanon - Two people were killed in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli on Friday in fighting fuelled by the civil war in neighboring Syria, bringing the death toll in three days of clashes to six, security sources said.
At least 35 were wounded, they said. Machineguns and rocket propelled grenades rocked neighboring districts that are home to communities linked to both sides of the Syrian conflict.
One area is dominated by Lebanese Sunni Muslims, who support the Sunni-led uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad, and the other is an enclave of Lebanese Alawites, the same Shi'ite Muslim offshoot to which the Syrian leader belongs.
One of those killed on Friday was a soldier, security sources said, a dangerous sign that the army could be dragged into the bloody on-off street conflict.
The army blocked the main north-south highway through Tripoli as sniper fire was reported there and residents said soldiers exchanged gunfire with the militants.
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