Up to 30 Dead as Syrians and Sunnis Clash in Tripoli

As many as 30 people have been killed and 60 wounded in fighting between Syrian troops and fundamentalist Sunni Muslim militiamen in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, Beirut radio said Saturday.

Reporters who tried to enter the battle zone said they were turned back by Syrian patrols.

The radio, broadcasting from mainly Muslim West Beirut, described its casualty figures as “provisional.”

“The sound of explosions could be heard until dawn today,” one resident told reporters, adding that intermittent firing continued in some areas.

Wrecked cars, smoldering rubble and shattered glass littered streets, and several buildings were badly damaged, witnesses said.

Syrian troops manned barricades at major city intersections. “They are searching cars and checking identity cards,” said one inhabitant.

The fighting erupted Friday between Syrian troops and the militiamen of the pro-Iranian Tawhid (Islamic Unification) movement, which is widely regarded as having close ties with elements loyal to Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat.

The leftist As Safir newspaper said Syrian troops were still trying to eliminate “a small pocket (of resistance) in the marketplace where a number of suspects are hiding.”

The soldiers cordoned off the city, 45 miles north of Beirut, and were reported to have brought in tanks after the latest armed challenge to their role in Lebanon.

Syria, which has about 25,000 troops in northern and eastern Lebanon, first sent its soldiers into Tripoli 15 months ago after weeks of heavy fighting between Tawhid and pro-Syrian leftists.

Tawhid is believed to have held on to many weapons left behind when Arafat’s supporters were driven from Tripoli by Damascus-backed Palestinian groups.