TRIPOLI, Lebanon, May 22 (UPI) -- At least 10 people were killed in four days of clashes in Tripoli, Lebanon, between supporters and opponents of the Assad regime in Syria, officials said.
Violence escalated overnight Tuesday with at least 47 mortar shells and rocket-propelled grenades fired over a 1-hour period, the Lebanese newspaper The Daily Star reported Wednesday.
Intermittent sniper fire was heard in the morning, the newspaper said.
Two Lebanese soldiers and eight civilians have been killed and more than 70 injured since hostilities erupted Sunday, The Daily Star said.
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Other reports, such as the Kuwaiti news agency KUNA, said at least 11 people had died in the four days of fighting in the city.
Tripoli is home to a large Sunni community and a minority Alawite community, an offshoot of Shiite Islam to which Syrian President Bashar Assad belongs. Since the civil war began in Syria, the city has become a flash point for clashes.
Officials said the latest round of violence began last weekend when Syrian regime forces battled the rebel stronghold of Qusayr near the border with Lebanon.
Before dawn Wednesday, Lebanese soldiers opened fire with machine guns to push back a group of about 300 Salafist fighters who attempted to fight gunmen who support the Assad regime, the newspaper said.
There are concerns the Lebanese army may be ordered to withdraw from the city, allowing extremists to gain control, The Daily Star said. One security source said that unless clear instructions are issued to the army to firmly intervene between the rival groups, the violence will continue.
Schools, universities and banks in the city were closed for a third day Wednesday.
