Al-jazeera.com :
Lebanese soldiers have taken control of a Tripoli neighbourhood, once a base for al-Qaeda inspired fighters, after three days of fierce fighting that killed at least 16 and forced thousands to flee.
The fighting was the deadliest bout of Syria-related violence in Lebanon’s second city since the 2011 outbreak of the civil war in Syria, leaving 11 soldiers and five civilians dead between Friday and Sunday.
It was also the first to pit rebels, blamed for attacks on military posts, against the army in Tripoli. The fighting caused major damage to the impoverished Sunni district of Bab al-Tebbaneh, which fighters had used as their stronghold.
On Monday morning, the army was in full control of the rebel bastion as troops moved in without facing any resistance, a military spokesman told AFP news agency.
“The army has taken over Bab al-Tebbaneh”, said the spokesman, adding that troops had captured 162 fighters since Friday.
The army urged other fighters still at large to turn themselves in.
The soldiers carried out house-to-house searches and made several weapons seizures.
A 72-year-old woman said she had never before been forced out of Bab al-Tebbaneh, “not even during the civil war. But this time, I had to flee my house, along with my five grandchildren. I am in charge of them, because their father is in jail,” said Umm Mohammed Jaaburi. “The violence was unprecedented,” she said.
Washington praised the courage of the soldiers involved in the clashes, while also backing the Lebanese government.
