Fierce clashes rage in north Lebanon

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2008

BEIRUT (AFP) — Fierce sectarian battles raged in north Lebanon for a second day on Monday as the army vowed to use force if needed to contain the violence threatening to derail an accord to end the country's political crisis.

Two people were killed and two others died of wounds sustained a day earlier, bringing to eight the death toll from the clashes that erupted on Sunday in the port city of Tripoli, a security official told AFP.

He said 45 other people were wounded.

The clashes in the densely populated Bab al-Tebbaneh and Jabal Mohsen districts pitted Sunni supporters of the Western-backed majority against members of an Alawite sect loyal to the Hezbollah-led opposition.

Fighters traded heavy machine-gun fire, mortars and rocket-propelled...