| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Army deployed in North Lebanon after gunfight |
| 2007-11-29 |
| The Lebanese army has been deployed in Tripoli to try prevent further clashes between gunmen from opposition and pro-government groups. Fighting broke out on Tuesday between a newly-formed group loyal to parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri and a local Islamist group. A member of the pro-Syrian Islamic Unification Movement (IUM) died during the fighting, police said. It comes amid a sharp political crisis and fears of a return to civil strife. IUM and Tripoli Brigades members exchanged automatic fire in the Abi Samra neighbourhood in the northern port city. In all seven people were wounded during the clash. Reports say a second man, from the pro-government Tripoli Brigades, died of his injuries later in hospital, but this has not been confirmed. Security sources are quoted saying the bloodshed occurred near the IUM's headquarters and was sparked by a dispute between two men. |
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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran | |
| Rival factions clash in North Lebanon, one killed | |
| 2007-11-28 | |
| One person was killed and six people were wounded in a clash between two rival factions in the northern town of Tripoli, police reported. The 30-minute firefight, in which assault rifles were used, pitted the Islamic Unification Movement against the Tripoli Brigades in the town's Shiraa square of Abu Samra district, a police spokesman told Naharnet. Police patrols and army units intervened and brought the clash to an end, he added. The fatality was identified as IUM member Nawaf al-Haidar. The casualties included Usama Shabaan, son if IUM founder Sheikh Saeed Shabaan, the police spokesman said. The IUM is a local Sunni faction that is backed by Syria and Iran. The Tripoli Brigades is a local faction that supports the March 14 majority alliance. Army units and police patrols cordoned off Shiraa square pending surrender of "all gunmen involved in the clash," the spokesman added without further elaboration.
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