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Army breaks up clashes in Lebanon

TRIPOLI, Lebanon, March 24 (UPI) -- The Lebanese army moved into the city of Tripoli to quell street clashes between supporters and opponents of Syria's government, officials said Sunday.

Troops conducted a series of overnight raids that did not result in any arrests but led to the confiscation of weapons including machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.

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The two sides included residents of a Sunni Muslim neighborhood who oppose Syrian President Bashar Assad, and the Alawite community, which supports Assad.

The Daily Star said Tripoli residents reported seeing fighters from the militant jihadist Salafist movement taking sides with the Sunni gunmen.

The caretaker interior minister of Lebanon's government, Marwan Charbel, visited Tripoli Saturday and called on Parliament to take stronger steps to curb the violence.

Lebanon's government dissolved Saturday when President Michel Sleiman's Cabinet resigned.

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