Six Killed in North Lebanon Clashes

Fears Rise Nationwide as Internal, External Strife Grows

A few days of relative calm in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli have come to an end, with a new round of fighting between Sunni and Alawite militias leaving at least six people dead and an unknown number of others wounded.

The fighting in Tripoli has been happening for months, and is largely spillover from the Syrian Civil War. It is only one of many examples of growing violence and security threats nationwide, however.

Over the weekend, we saw Hezbollah clashing with Syrian rebel forces in eastern Lebanon, near the city of Baalbek. Syrian rebels have also fired rockets at Shi’ite areas of Lebanon over the past week.

On top of that, there is the ever-present threat of Israeli incursions into Southern Lebanon, with a large number of Israeli warplanes violating Lebanese airspace on Sunday, performing aggressive runs at cities across the southern and eastern parts of the nation.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.