Explosion in Lebanon’s Tripoli arms depot

An explosion ripped through an area in the northern port city of Tripoli late Friday, causing panic hours after clashes broke out between armed Lebanese over Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, a security source said.

The blast occurred near Al Jinan University in the mainly Muslim-Sunni neighborhood of Abi Samara, causing material damage and setting some parts of the campus on fire, the source, who requested anonymity, told dpa.

“Initial investigation showed that there is an arms depot in the area,” the source said without giving details to whom this depot belongs.

Hours before the blast took place, clashes erupted between gunmen loyal to the Syrian regime and others who back the 11-month uprising in neighboring Syria, injuring seven people, among them three Lebanese army soldiers, Lebanese police said.

March 14 official Mustafa Allouch commented on the Tripoli clashes and said the “Syrian regime followers will attempt to distort the image of Tripoli citizens.”

Allouch told the Free Lebanon radio on Saturday that the army intelligence knows who is “escalating” the situation and is “capable of arresting them if there is a political decision to do so.”

“Every action that happens in Lebanon [similar to the Tripoli clashes are ordered by] the Syrian regime.” He said

The official also commented on Arab Democratic Party Secretary General Rifaat Eid’s statement that the arms warehouse which has reportedly exploded belongs to the Future Movement and said such statements are “lies because the Movement is not armed and the only group that is armed in Lebanon is Hezbollah”

DPA, NPR