I seks dager har pro og anti-Assad-krefter skutt på hverandre i Libanons neststørste by, Tripoli. Innbyggerne klager: det finnes intet statlig nærvær.

Den libanesiske staten er svak. Militsgruppene bestemmer selv når de vil slåss.

Borgerkrigen i Syria slår over i Tripoli og hele uken er det blitt skutt.

Det begynte med et intervju Assad ga på tv, og mistanker/rykter om at en bestemt pro-Assad-person sto bak bombingen av to sunni-moskeer for en tid tilbake.

Fighting in Tripoli raged overnight as clashes continued for the sixth consecutive day and the death toll rose to seven with dozens more wounded.

Riyad Salaheddine Salouqani, from the Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood, was transfered to a local hospital after he was seriously wounded during overnight shelling. He died in the morning from his wounds.

Twelve people were also wounded raising the total number of wounded to over 70.

..

Tensions erupted Monday following a television interview with Assad. They were also provoked by the recent charges against an ADP member of being involved in the August deadly twin bombings at the Al-Taqwa and Al-Salam mosques in the city.

Rana Naboulsi, a resident of the Tripoli neighborhood of Zahriyeh, told The Daily Star that they could hear the battles all night. She lamented the total absence of the state from the city.

“It is just like we are foreigners, there is a civil war in the second capital of Lebanon and no official has taken the initiative to try to end the battles,” she said.

Naboulsi said that all residents shared a feeling of bitterness and resentment. “How do state officials ask us to abide by the laws when they cannot protect us?”, she asked.

A video footage circulated on social media showed intense shelling in the city.

“Tripoli is the second capital of Lebanon … We are not on Mars and we are not aliens,” the caption of the video said. The residents asked social media users to share the video so that “maybe then they would know that we belong to the same country called Lebanon.”

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2013/Oct-25/235734-death-toll-rises-in-tripoli-after-fierce-overnight-clashes.ashx#ixzz2iiyVogI9
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)