Calm in Tripoli after Attack on Army

There was cautious calm in the northern city of Tripoli on Friday morning hours after gunmen attacked army posts, the state-run National News Agency reported.

NNA said masked gunmen riding a motorcycle opened fire at the military posts in Talaat al-Omari and Haret al-Saydeh.

The military confirmed in a communique the attack on the post in Talaat al-Omari but did not say whether another shooting had occurred.

It said soldiers responded to the sources of fire and carried out patrols to arrest the assailants and take them to justice.

No one was injured in the attacks.

Unknown assailants also tossed two grenades towards Syria Street in the Tripoli neighborhood of Bab al-Tabbaneh, the communique said.

Security sources told LBCI TV that supporters of fugitive Osama Mansour were behind the attacks.

Mansour and another top Tripoli fugitive Shadi al-Mawlawi have been charged with belonging to an armed terrorist group for the purpose of staging terrorist attacks, and holing up at a Tripoli mosque with the aim of preparing bombs and explosive devices to target Lebanese troops.

The Friday attacks on the army came less than 24 hours after a soldier was killed and another injured in a drive-by shooting in the northern Akkar district.

Milad Mohammed Issa died and Mohammed Fakhreddine Haidar was severely injured in the motorcycle attack that took place at dawn Thursday in the town of al-Rihaniyeh.

The army has been facing rising assaults following the gunbattles between troops and Sunni jihadists who overran the northeastern border town of Arsal in August.

Many Islamists in Lebanon accuse the army of backing Shiite Hizbullah, which has sent thousands of fighters to Syria to support the regime of President Bashar Assad against rebels seeking to topple him.

G.K.

H.K.