BREAKING NEWS

Second day of clashes in Lebanese city, 12 soldiers killed

By REUTERS

JUNE 24, 2013 10:54

SIDON, Lebanon - Lebanese soldiers fought Sunni Muslim gunmen in the southern city of Sidon on Monday in one of the deadliest outbreaks of violence fueled by sectarian divisions over the civil war in neighboring Syria.

The army said 12 soldiers had been killed in clashes which broke out on Sunday after security forces detained a follower of the hardline Sunni Muslim cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Assir. His supporters retaliated by opening fire on an army checkpoint.

Security sources put the army death toll at 15, with 60 wounded. They said at least two gunmen were also killed in the clashes but soldiers were surrounding the mosque where Assir's supporters were based, making it difficult to verify details.

The mosque showed signs of heavy damage from 24 hours of ferocious exchanges of rocket and gunfire.

Sidon had been on edge since violence erupted last week between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslim fighters, at odds over the Syrian conflict which pits mainly Sunni rebels against President Bashar Assad, an Alawite from an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam.

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