Lebanon Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel told As-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper in remarks published Monday that the security plan in Tripoli will start showing results within 48 hours.
“A social plan will also follow in Tripoli after the security plan ends,” Charbel said without elaborating.
Charbel also said that the parties engaged in fighting in Tripoli were affiliated to regional countries and not local parties.
“It is no secret that the events in Tripoli are mainly linked to what is happening in Syria,” he added.
The death toll from a week of clashes in Lebanon between supporters and opponents of Syria’s regime has risen to at least 14.
Residents of the mostly Sunni Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood support the revolt against Syrian President Bashar Assad, while residents of the mostly Alawite Jabal Mohsen neighborhood back Assad. They have fought frequently since the Syrian conflict erupted in March 2011.
Lebanon is deeply divided into pro- and anti-Damascus alliances but the division has widened since Hezbollah admitted in May it was sending fighters into Syria to support Assad’s troops.
NOW