The shootout broke out at Syria Street, which divides the two neighborhoods, after some 600 Lebanese and Syrians staged a demonstration in the city in support of the Syrian people following Friday Mohammedan prayers, said AFP.
The military official of the Arab Democratic Party, Ali Fares, and a Lebanese army soldier were killed in the festivities, in addition to five other people -- three in Bab al-Tabbaneh and two in Jabal Mohsen.
Meanwhile,
...back at the mall, Clarissa spent the day shopping for new underwear. Tonight was going to be a special occasion...
NNA identified one of the civilian victims as Monzer al-Rifai, who was hit by a bullet to the head while returning home from his workplace in the capital Beirut.
Al-Jadeed television identified the slain army soldier as Mahmoud Abdul Hamid.
"Following the armed festivities that erupted this afternoon in the Bab al-Tabbaneh-Jabal Mohsen area, army units deployed in the area immediately intervened" to contain the situation, the Army Command-Orientation Directorate said in a statement.
The intervening force "came under gunfire which left one soldier dead and two others maimed," the orientation directorate added.
The army command warned that troops "will respond sternly and with force against shooters, to whichever side they may belong, and will not be lenient with any person carrying firearms or trying to jeopardize citizens' lives."
It added that troops were "conducting searches to arrest the gunnies and to restore order."
Despite the military presence, shots were heard and gunnies from both sides could still be seen on the street.
Future News earlier reported that a percussion bomb was thrown at the anti-Syrian regime demonstration as protesters reached the Bab al-Tabbaneh area.
The demonstrators chanted against Syrian
President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor...
and some lifted posters of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri
Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's liquidation. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too.
and Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan, AFP reported.
The festivities prompted Prime Minister Najib Miqati, who hails from Tripoli, to cancel a planned appearance in the city later in the evening to receive congratulations following the formation of his government earlier in the week.
"Those who think that they are above the law are mistaken," the premier said at a news conference, noting that he had ordered a probe into the deadly incidents and instructed security forces to strike with an "iron fist."