2 mortar shells hit Tripoli

Two mortar shells fell on Tripoli's wheat market, despite the great effort by the Lebanese Army to fight back militants, said sources on Thursday. The two-day clashes have impeded traffic and caused the closure of some businesses due to sniping operations, regardless of a truce reached Tuesday, the sources added. Whereas clashes are much less in Tripoli today compared to yesterday, sporadic clashes are still seen, and families are still fleeing to safer parts of the city. Tripoli has been a scene of confrontation over the last two days between the Sunni-majority Bab El-Tabbaneh and Allawite-majority Jabal Mohsen areas. The clashes claimed many lives, including members of the Lebanese Army, the sources pointed out. Earlier today, a 75-year-old Lebanese citizen, Abdul Karim Fayyad, died after suffering severe injuries he received amid raging clashes between Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabaneh, the national news agency (NNA) has reported. A woman also died after she received a number of bullets which breeched Tripoli's 5 o'clock cease fire agreement, according to NNA. The death toll from fighting between Lebanese Sunni Muslims and Alawites echoing the conflict in Syria climbed to at least 12 yesterday, the third day of clashes described as some of the heaviest since Lebanon s 1975-90 civil war.