One person was killed and seven others were wounded in clashes on Sunday in Lebanon´s northern city of Tripoli, between factions supporting and opposed to the revolt in neighboring Syria.

According to a report by AFP, the man was killed in Bab al-Tebbaneh, as residents of the mainly Sunni Muslim district traded gunfire with locals in the Jabal Mohsen area inhabited by Alawites, a Shiite sect of which Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is a member.

A resident of the largely Sunni district of Kobbe was killed in similar clashes on Saturday, which also left five injured, AFP reported.

Meanwhile, in a separate incident, an army officer was killed by sniper fire as clashes broke out on Saturday night between the army and a group of young men demonstrating for the release of a fellow Islamist, sources told the news agency.

Seven people, including a woman and a child, were shot and wounded in less intense fighting on Sunday night, raising the weekend casualty toll to three dead and 17 wounded.

Gunfire first broke out on Saturday between the Islamists and the army as the young demonstrators, sympathizers of the revolt in Syria, tried to approach the offices of the pro-Assad Syrian Social Nationalist Party.

The report said that about 100 young men blocked the northern and southern roads into Tripoli, setting up camp at the southern entrance of Lebanon´s second city.

They were calling for the release of Shadi al-Mawlawi, who security forces said was arrested as part of an “investigation into his ties to a terrorist organization.”

Syrian authorities have repeatedly charged that arms and fighters are being smuggled in from Lebanon to help the rebels fighting to overthrow Assad. (IsraelNationalNews © 2012 05/14/12)