TRIPOLI, Lebanon: An uneasy calm took hold across Tripoli Monday shortly after the Lebanese Army, backed by helicopter gunships, brought the northern city fully under its control by seizing the last bastion of an Islamist militant leader blamed for attacks on military posts.
The Army’s campaign against terrorist groups has put an end to four days of fierce clashes with militants inspired by ISIS and the Nusra Front. The clashes left 42 people dead and some 150 wounded.
Among the fatalities were 23 gunmen, 11 soldiers and eight civilians. The wounded included 92 soldiers, and 63 gunmen and civilians, security sources said. By Monday evening, at least 162 gunmen had been arrested throughout the north since the fighting erupted, according to the Army.
The United States, meanwhile, voiced support for the Army after the Tripoli clashes.
Washington joined with Lebanon “as it mourns the loss of the soldiers and officers who died defending Lebanon from terrorist groups,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. The U.S. also “commends the bravery of the personnel of the Lebanese armed forces who are working to keep Tripoli and Akkar safe for all residents.”
Psaki said Washington stood by the country and its government, adding: “We condemn those who seek to sow chaos in Lebanon and are confident that the Lebanese people will persevere if they stand united in the face of this threat.”
Psaki also praised Prime Minister Tammam Salam for his “strong stand,” adding Washington was “very confident” in the Army’s ability to defend the country.
Residents who fled their houses in the Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood, the scene of pitched battles between the Army and militants, returned Monday as troops surrounded the district and mounted raids in search for fugitive gunmen.
There was public relief over the end of the latest round of fighting in Tripoli, with residents expressing satisfaction with the heavy Army deployment in the city, ravaged by several rounds of sectarian clashes linked to the war in Syria.
A military source confirmed that the Abdullah bin Masoud Mosque, the stronghold of Shadi Mawlawi and his partner Osama Mansour, militant commanders reportedly linked to the Al-Qaeda affiliate Nusra Front, had fallen into the hands of the Lebanese Army. The fate or whereabouts of the two men were unknown.
The source told The Daily Star Lebanese commandos, backed by helicopter gunships, had combed the area around the mosque, which is inside the restive Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood.
Security sources told The Daily Star that soldiers found the mosque empty of militants. They believe the gunmen had melted away, their faces clean-shaven and dressed in civilian clothes, before the Army advance began early Monday morning. There was no resistance from gunmen when the Army advance began around 6:30 a.m.
They said that while the operation in Bab al-Tabbaneh was over, soldiers were still hunting for wanted men and other suspects in connection with attacks against the Army, after they fled into the orchards of the northern towns of Minyeh, Mhamra and Bhenin.
An Army statement issued Monday evening confirmed the details of the operations, but added that one soldier was slightly wounded during a gunfight with militants in Bhenin.
Army helicopters continued to chase fugitive gunmen from Bhenin to the Oyoun al-Samak region, while Army surveillance aircraft flew over the towns and villages of Akkar, Minyeh and Dinnieh and Nahr al-Bared River.
The Army called on fugitive gunmen to hand themselves in, or be hunted down. In a statement, the military urged “remnants of fleeing armed groups” to surrender to the Army. It said the Army would hunt them down in their hideouts and vowed to continue pursuing them until they are arrested and brought to justice.
The sources said the Army was resolute in the crackdown on armed militants and was taking a no-compromise approach.
Security sources earlier told The Daily Star that the Army had sealed off all entrances to the vegetable market as troops prepared to storm the militants’ stronghold in Bab al-Tabbaneh.
As the soldiers surrounded the Abdullah bin Masoud Mosque, troops fanned out through the surrounding neighborhood, combing the streets for militants, the sources said.
Earlier Monday, unknown assailants tossed a hand grenade toward a police station in the Tripoli neighborhood of Mina. No casualties were reported. However, three cars were damaged in the 5 a.m. attack.
The four days of running street battles between Lebanese troops and militants in Tripoli and the northern district of Minyeh represented the worst bout of Syria-related violence in Lebanon since ISIS and the Nusra Front briefly overran the northeastern border town of Arsal in August, leaving dead 19 troops and dozens of militants.
The Nusra Front said it had abandoned the execution of one of the captive soldiers, Ali Bazzal, after guns fell silent in Tripoli.
Salam, who pledged full political support for the Army in its battle against terrorism Sunday, chaired a security meeting at the Grand Serail with the heads of several security bodies.
He said the Army’s offensive in the north was drawing to a close after troops made significant advances against Islamist militants.
“The decision has been made, and it is to be firm with terrorists and terrorism,” he told reporters on a flight to Berlin. “We cannot surrender or move backward. The military confrontation was imposed on us by the terrorists.”
Meanwhile, Education Minister Elias Bou Saab said that public and private schools in Tripoli, Minyeh and Akkar would remain closed Tuesday.
Elsewhere, security forces in the southern city of Sidon are hunting down terror suspects after assailants tossed a hand grenade at an Army post, a day after the military foiled two attack attempts, a security source and the military said.
“At around 5:15 p.m. an Army unit raided the residence of Palestinian national Ahmad Adnan Sharaf, who was planning to launch an attack on an Army post in the south,” an Army statement said. Sharaf is still at large.
During the raid, the Army seized a Kalashnikov rifle, an RPG and 17 grenades, as well as two explosives weighing 1.5 kg each, the statement added.
The Army also announced the arrest of Palestinian Malek al-Agha after raiding his residence.
Agha is said to be a supporter of fugitive salafist preacher Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir. The Army seized rocket launchers, grenades, rifles, machine guns and explosives hidden in a cellar in his residence in the Bab al-Serail neighborhood.
A security source told The Daily Star that troops are fanning out across parts of Sidon, particularly in the old city, following the incidents.
Sunday’s grenade was thrown from the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh toward the Sidon neighborhood of Villat, where troops were stationed. The attack came one day after the Lebanese Army foiled two similar attempts in Sidon.
The Army foiled an attack on Sidon’s Fatima Zahra Compound, which houses a Shiite mosque, an infirmary and a lecture hall, before thwarting an assault against an Army Intelligence office. – Additional reporting by Mohammed Zaatari
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