Lebanon’s Military Prosecutor Saqr Saqr charged Monday 38 individuals over gunbattles in the northern city of Tripoli.
Among the 38 suspects were 18 from the mainly Alawite Tripoli neighborhood of Jabal Mohsen and 20 from nearby predominantly Sunni Bab Al Tabbaneh, according to a judicial source.
The two districts have been feuding since the 1975-1990 Lebanese Civil War, but the traditional rivalry between them has been aggravated by the three-year-old crisis in neighboring Syria.
Only two of the suspects – one from Jabal Mohsen and another from Bab Al Tabbaneh – are in custody. The others remain at large, the source told The Daily Star.
The source said among the Bab Al Tabbaneh suspects were two field commanders known as Bilal Baqqar and Raef Dandashi.
Saqr charged all 38 men of undermining the authority of the state, belonging to an armed organization and murder conspiracy.
The suspects could face the death penalty if convicted.
Saqr referred the case and the two detained men to Military Investigative Judge Fadi Sawwan.
The judicial source said Sawwan will interrogate the suspects on Thursday.
