A Lebanese Sunni woman greets Lebanese soldiers on top of an armored personnel carrier as they patrol the streets of the Bab Al-Tabbaneh neighborhood of the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli on Wednesday after they were deployed in the city in the second stage of a plan aimed at quelling deadly Syria-linked violence. Residents welcomed the deployment, saying they hoped it would help bring normality to the city. – AFP

TRIPOLI, Lebanon – Lebanese troops on Wednesday moved into a restive Sunni area in northern Tripoli, in the second stage of a plan aimed at quelling deadly Syria-linked violence, a security source said.



Residents welcomed the deployment, saying they hoped it would help bring normality to the city.



Several families displaced by the violence were also able to return to their homes Wednesday.



The military operation in Bab Al-Tebbaneh comes a day after the army entered the Alawite district of Jabal Mohsen.



It follows orders from ministers last week for security forces to move into the city, where at least 30 people were killed in two weeks of fighting in March.



Fighters in the two neighborhoods have clashed frequently in recent months, as decades-old sectarian tensions have been exacerbated by the war in neighboring Syria.



Hundreds of people have been killed in Lebanese violence — including bomb attacks and battles — since the war in Syria broke out three years ago.



“The Lebanese army completed its deployment into the flashpoint areas (of Tripoli) and army units went into Bab Al-Tebbaneh this morning,” said the security source, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity.



“The military removed the barricades from the streets and the rooftops, and opened up the road linking Bab Al-Tebbaneh to Jabal Mohsen,” he added.



“They conducted raids and searched for weapons and wanted people. The troops were backed by armored vehicles, tanks and bulldozers,” said the source, though he gave no details on whether anyone was arrested.



According to a security source: “All the commanders on both sides have disappeared. The army has gone to their houses to find them, with no luck.”



Damascus dominated Lebanon for nearly 30 years until 2005, and the war in Syria has divided the Lebanese squarely into two camps — one supporting President Bashar Al-Assad, the other backing the revolt.



As the army deployed in Bab Al-Tebbaneh, a semblance of normality returned with shops re-opening on aptly named Syria Street, the road dividing the Sunni neighborhood from neighboring Jabal Mohsen.



Syria Street is a commercial road that acts as the makeshift frontline during clashes.



A Sunni sheikh from Bab Al-Tebbaneh led a peace march to neighboring Jabal Mohsen on Wednesday morning that he said was intended to show “that we are family and this phase of violence is over.”



Exhausted by the multiple rounds of violence, which have mostly killed civilians, residents welcomed the deployment.



“I hope security returns to the area,” said Mahmud al-Asmar, a 55-year-old taxi driver from Bab Al-Tebbaneh.



Ayman Khazna, a 45-year-old father of four, hopes the army’s plan will mean his family can now begin repairing their battered home in Syria Street.



“Our house was hit four times by shells. Eventually, it was burned down” in the fighting. “We had to move out to my wife’s family home. I hope the state pays us compensation, and that we can return and fix our home.”



Bab Al-Tebbaneh and Jabal Mohsen both suffer from deep poverty and marginalisation, and many fighters have said they would not have fought had they had jobs.



“The security plan will only work if it is accompanied by a development plan to rehabilitate this area, and to help life to return to normal here,” Khazna added. – AFP