Analyst: Tripoli Incidents Regional Unrest Spillover
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A senior political analyst said the recent clashes in Tripoli, Lebanon's second-largest city, are part of the wave of violence in regional countries, including Syria, Iraq, Egypt and Libya.
“What is happening in Tripoli is part of the incidents occurring in Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Libya and even Tunisia, which are sponsored by some Persian Gulf Arab states as well as the US,” Anis Naqash, a Lebanese expert on the Middle East, told the Tasnim News Agency on Tuesday.
He made the comments in reference to recent clashes between the Lebanese army and insurgents affiliated to the Nusra Front and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorist groups in the northern city of Tripoli.
He added that the countries, which provided financial support to the terrorists in the region, have now realized that terrorism is a major threat to all countries.
“The terrorists tried to take advantage of the arrival of Muharram (the first month of the Islamic lunar calendar) to attack military bases and villages and to take the control of some areas in northern Lebanon and the Beqaa district, but the (Lebanese) military managed to thwart their plots,” he noted.
Lebanese soldiers on Monday took control of a Tripoli neighborhood, once a base for al-Qaeda inspired fighters, after three days of fierce fighting that killed at least 16 people and forced thousands to flee.
The fighting was the deadliest bout of Syria-related violence in Tripoli since the 2011 outbreak of the civil war in the country, leaving 11 soldiers and five civilians dead between Friday and Sunday.
It was also the first to pit rebels, blamed for attacks on military posts, against the army in Tripoli. The fighting caused major damage to the impoverished district of Bab al-Tebbaneh, which fighters had used as their stronghold.
The army was in full control of the rebel bastion as troops moved in without facing any resistance, a military spokesman said.
