TRIPOLI: Masked gunmen on a motorcycle fatally wounded a Lebanese soldier yesterday in Tripoli, which has been regularly rocked by sectarian clashes linked to the conflict in Syria, the army said.
Fadi Jbaili, a Sunni Muslim native of the northern port city, was shot in the Boulevard district as he walked to work at around 6.15 am.
“He was seriously wounded and later succumbed to his injuries,” the army statement said.
Tripoli has been rocked by repeated violence linked to the Syria conflict, pitting its Sunni majority, who largely support the rebels, against the Alawite minority, who back their co-religionist President Bashar Al Assad.
It was the fourth case in which a soldier has been murdered this way in Tripoli since February, but officials were unclear about the motive.
A security official said a “Syrian suspected of involvement” had been arrested after being found hiding in a building near the site of the shooting.
Yesterday, the government ordered the army and security forces to control the security situation in Tripoli and to seize arms caches in the city.
Elsewhere, a “dangerous terrorist” wanted in connection with car bomb attacks against the powerful Lebanese Shia group Hezbollah was killed yesterday in a shoot-out as security forces tried to arrest him, the army said.
Army intelligence had tracked Sami Al Atrash to a hideout in the town of Arsal near the Syrian border and closed in on him last afternoon, a statement said.
“Atrash opened fire on an army patrol as it conducted its search, (soldiers) fired back and he subsequently died of his wounds,” a statement said.
AFP
