Army kills Sunni cleric in Lebanon

[bemildred]

TRIPOLI, Lebanon — Army troops shot dead a Sunni cleric on Sunday when his convoy failed to stop at a checkpoint in north Lebanon, the scene of deadly clashes linked to the uprising in Syria, a security official said.

He told AFP that another religious figure in the car of cleric Ahmad Abdel Wahed, known for his support of the anti-regime uprising in neighbouring Syria, was also killed.

Abdel Wahed's convoy failed to stop at a checkpoint in Koueikhat town, in the Akkar region.

The incident took place following a week of intermittent clashes in the northern port city of Tripoli between Sunnis hostile to the Syrian regime and Alawites who support President Bashar al-Assad.

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[Eugene]

1. Two dead in Beirut clashes after killing of anti-Assad cleric

Source: Reuters

Two dead in Beirut clashes after killing of anti-Assad cleric

By Nazih Siddiq

ALBIREH, Lebanon | Mon May 21, 2012 6:56pm EDT

(Reuters) - Hundreds of Islamist gunmen fired in the air on Monday at the funeral of a Sunni Muslim cleric whose killing ignited street battles and brought the bloodshed from Syria's 14-month-old uprising spilling across the border into Lebanon.

Sheikh Ahmed Abdul Wahid, an opponent of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was buried in northern Lebanon a day after he was shot dead at a Lebanese army checkpoint in a part of that country where Sunni sympathy for Syria's rebels and the uprising against Assad is particularly strong.

Demonstrators blocked roads and burned tires in the northern province of Akkar, and similar protests in Beirut gave way to firefights with machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades.

The clashes on Monday between gunmen from the Future Movement, loyal to anti-Assad former Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, and members of a pro-Assad party, left two dead and was the worst unrest in Beirut since sectarian fighting brought Lebanon to the brink of civil war in 2008.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/21/us-syria-idUSBRE84K0TP20120521