Lebanese army officer shot dead in northern city of Tripoli

Beirut: A Lebanese army officer was shot dead in the country’s second city of Tripoli during fighting between rival sects on Thursday, a security source and state media said.

Lebanon’s National News Agency said masked men on a motorcycle had opened fire on the officer, Fadi Al Jbaili, at around 6:30am (0430 GMT), killing him instantly.

Fighting between Tripoli’s Sunnis and members of the Alawite sect has killed at least 28 people over the last two weeks.

Long-running tensions between the two sects have been made worse by the three-year-old conflict in neighbouring Syria, where mostly Sunni rebels are fighting to overthrow President Bashar Al Assad.

Lebanon, beset by its own internal sectarian divisions and still recovering from a 1975-90 civil war, has struggled to control the violence in Tripoli.

On Wednesday, at least three people were killed in fighting in the northern coastal city, including an 11-year-old boy.

Another officer in Lebanon’s security forces escaped without injury when gunmen opened fire on him, the National News agency reported on Thursday.