TRIPOLI, Lebanon – Lebanese troops deployed Tuesday in tense areas of the northerncity of Tripoli after three days of sectarian clashes killed atleast six people in a spillover of the 14-month-long conflict inneighboring Syria. Since the early hours of the day, Lebanese army and police forcesstarted patrolling the city as residents began to reopen theirshops and check their property for damages. Lebanon and Syria share a complex web of political and sectarianties and rivalries, which are easily enflamed. Tripoli —Lebanon's second largest city — has seen bouts of sectarianviolence in the past, but the fighting has become more frequent asthe conflict in Syria worsens. The city's fighting camps break down along sectarian and politicallines. On one side are Sunni Muslims who support the rebels tryingto oust Syrian President Bashar Assad. On the other are members ofthe tiny Alawite sect, followers of an offshoot of Shiite Islam whoare Assad's most loyal supporters. An Associated Press reporter in Tripoli said no gunmen were seen inthe streets and life was returning to normal along Syria Street,which splits the mainly Sunni Bab Tabbaneh neighborhood and theAlawite-majority Jabal Mohsen. Much of the clashes had taken placearound Syria street. The clashes pitted neighbor against neighbor and left at least sixpeople dead and 100 wounded in the gunbattles that erupted lateSaturday. Police Brig. Gen. Bassam Ayoubi said troops deploymentcame after intense contacts with Tripoli's political and religiousleaders. "Any gunmen detained will be referred to military prosecutors,"Ayoubi warned. Meanwhile, across the border in Syria, Khalaf al-Azzawi, thechairman of the country's Higher Committee of the Elections,released the results of last week's parliamentary elections.Al-Azzawi said the voter turnout was 51.26 percent. The elections were the first under a new constitution, adoptedthree months ago, that allows political parties to compete withAssad's ruling Baath party. The new constitution also limits thepresident to two seven-year terms. The government has praised the vote as a milestone in promisedpolitical reforms, but the opposition boycotted the polls and saidthey were orchestrated by the regime to strengthen Assad's grip onpower. Al-Azzawi did not give a breakdown or say how many of the250-member legislature's seats were won by the 10 parties of theNational Progressive Front, an alliance dominated by the rulingBaath party. Among the winners were Qadri Jamil and Omar Ossi, two politicianswho describe themselves as opposition figures. Thirty women alsowon seats, a similar figure to that of the outgoing parliament. Also Tuesday, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rightsand the Local Coordination Committees activist groups said at leastthree people were killed in an explosion in the coastal city ofBanias, home to Syria's one of two oil refineries. The Observatory said the explosion destroyed a building but thenature of the blast is still not clear. Both groups also reported government troops shooting in the easterncity of Deir el-Zour near the border with Iraq that left at leastthree people dead. In Egypt, an Arab League officials said that a meeting of Syrianopposition groups that was scheduled to take place in Cairo onWednesday has been postponed for two weeks, to allow time forbetter preparation. I am an expert from plastic-injectionmould.com, while we provides the quality product, such as Custom Plastic Containers , China Plastic Bucket Mould, Custom Plastic Injection Molding,and more.
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