TRIPOLI, Lebanon: The Lebanese Army tightened security in north Lebanon Wednesday, carrying out large-scale raids in Tripoli and areas to the north and east of the city in search for fugitive militants, security sources told The Daily Star.
Troops raided an apartment in Tripoli’s Abi Samra neighborhood which was occupied by fundamentalist cleric Sheikh Khaled Hablas, confiscating a computer, the sources said.
Hablas, who was previously seen as a low-key figure, preaches at Haroun Mosque in his hometown of Bhenin in the district of Minyeh, north of Tripoli. He is also an outspoken opponent of the military.
The Army has also been carrying out raids since early morning over a large perimeter stretching between Abi Samra and Dahr al-Ain, including Wadi Haab in the region of Koura.
Helicopter gunships backed ground troops as they searched for the runaway militants involved in the four-day fighting in Tripoli last week that killed 42 people, including 11 soldiers and eight civilians.
Soldiers redeployed heavily in Abi Samra and Zaytoun, conducting patrols and setting up fixed and roving checkpoints on the roads leading to the battered neighborhoods.
About 200 suspects have been arrested since the fighting erupted on Friday.
In the meantime, schools and universities in the city reopened after several days of forced closure.
Residents displaced by the fighting continued to return gradually to Tripoli's battered Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood, where much of the fighting was centered.
Local sources said that some residents returned to check on their belongings, amid calls for government assistance to help them repair damaged property.
Dozens of shops and businesses remained closed Wednesday, with some parts of the neighborhood in complete ruins.
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