Sectarian rivalry simmers beneath calm Tripoli
Politicians fear inevitable security explosions in northern coastal city
The ancient souk in the northern coastal city of Tripoli purveys a sense of effortless inclusiveness that seems to have escaped other parts of Lebanon. Buyers and sellers from diverse backgrounds congregate every day in what appears to be an easy co-inhabitance. Under this delicate veil of acceptance, however, bubbles fiery sectarian rivalry.
Being Lebanon’s second city, it would have been remarkable if Tripoli had avoided the sectarian clashes that have marred the country’s recent history. But is it, as Future Movement MP Mustafa Allouch suggested in an interview published over the weekend, a potential “security explosion.”
Although Allouch’s allegations that Hizbullah was providing Tripoli residents with the funding to form armed gangs loyal to the Shiite group were dismissed on Monday as “probably not accurate” by a high-ranking military source, the leading Future Movement member’s comments represent an echo of disunity in the northern city.
Quoted by As-Safir on Monday, a Hizbullah source said that “these claims are not worthy of reaction.”
But it might not take any officially stipulated reaction to drag Tripoli further toward the sectarian antipathy in which it is already partially mired.
Last week a 4-year-old was wounded in a rocket-propelled grenade attack in Tripoli’s Jabal Mohsen neighborhood.
Media reports said residents were subsequently on high alert, and took up arms following the incident. The destitute neighborhoods of Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh have recently seen ferocious clashes between Tripoli’s Muslim Sunnis and Alawites.
The attack closely followed the arrest of a Tripoli resident of Turkish descent for the possession of illegal weapons. Investigations are currently under way into the depot, which is alleged to have included mortar shells, Kalashnikovs, machine guns and other weaponry.
Retired Lebanese Army General Elias Hanna told The Daily Star that while Tripoli’s sectarian composition – typified by the Sunni-Alawite split – has always produced a fractious environment, the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri could be seen as the catalyst for the city’s recent altercations.
“Conflict persists due to the assassination,” he said, referring to the killing of Hariri in a car bomb attack that caused 22 other deaths on February 14, 2005, in Ain al-Mreisseh, Beirut.
The attack has been widely blamed on Syria, a country with a large Alawite minority. In spite of repeated denials of involvement from Damascus, many Lebanese still lay blame at Syria’s door and this may be reflected in current tensions between Sunnis and Alawites in Tripoli, according to Hanna.
“The situation in Tripoli is precarious. However, when you have the Sunnis cornering the Alawites the balance of power is not with the latter,” he said.
Simon Haddad, professor of Politics at Notre Dame University, said the Alawite contingent of Tripoli “is a sort of extension for the Alawite regime in Syria, a sort of support for Damascus.”
Hanna pointed to the May 2008 clashes in Beirut between pro-government and opposition gunmen which left more than 80 civilians dead as evidence that trouble ensues “wherever Hariri is strong” in a “contiguous area with his enemies.”
“There is something going on in Tripoli, but the trigger isn’t quite finished,” he added.
Last month, a Lebanese Army sergeant was wounded in Tripoli’s Tal neighborhood by stray gun-fire, as two civilians scuffled over “personal reasons.”
Hanna said that military presence may prevent Tripoli from witnessing what Allouch termed a “huge event,” but would not ensure lasting peace.
“There is a big [army] presence in Tripoli. But if something were to happen [there] does the army have the political power to control it? I don’t think so,” Hanna said, adding that Lebanon’s current political impasse could be contributing toward Tripoli’s volatility.
“We are still outside of a political consensus and any government will need to be able to control security issues,” he said.
Haddad said that the army alone could not hope to resolve Tripoli’s Sunni-Alawite divide.
“The army is just [there] to control the demarcation line between the Sunnis and the Alawites. Security-wise, it’s uncontrollable,” he said.
As for dissipating the city’s wider sectarian differences, Haddad was pessimistic.
“I can’t see them resolved. Syria has certain cards on the table and they will want to keep them,” he said. “They won’t let a Hariri government become solid [in Tripoli]. If anything happened to [the Alawites in Tripoli] then there would be problems; it’s not just the Sunnis in control there.”
Although he didn’t see any imminent flaring of tensions, he said that Tripoli would experience “periods of calm, quieter times, but no lasting solution.”