Al Arabiya , 02 June 2012 – Overnight clashes between pro- and anti-Syrian regime gunmen left two people wounded in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, a security official said on Saturday.

Sporadic gun and rocket fire broke out at midnight and continued through the night, forcing some residents of the port city to flee their homes, the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

In May, street battles raged in Tripoli between the neighborhoods of Jabal Mohsen, mainly populated by pro-Damascus Alawites, and Bab al-Tebbaneh, home to Sunnis who support the opposition seeking to oust President Bashar al-Assad.

Sectarian violence has flared on a number of occasions in the city since the revolt broke out in neighboring Syria in March last year.
It reflects a deep split between Lebanon’s political parties where the opposition backs those leading the revolt in Syria while a ruling coalition led by the powerful Shiite Hezbollah supports Assad’s regime.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah called for the release of Lebanese Shiite pilgrims held in Syria in a televised speech on Friday.

“The pilgrims should be returned to their families,” Nasrallah said, during a ceremony commemorating the 23rd anniversary of the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

“If your problem is with Hezbollah… or a political party in Lebanon and its position on the events in Syria, leave innocent people aside and solve your problem with us,” he said, addressing the kidnappers.

The Shiite militant group Hezbollah is considered Iran’s proxy in Lebanon and much of its weapons transit through Syria.

The militant group has steadfastly expressed its support for the regime of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad since the outbreak of the uprising on March 15, 2011.

A previously unknown armed group calling itself the “Syrian Revolutionaries — Aleppo Province” announced Thursday that it is holding the dozen or so pilgrims who went missing in Syria on May 22.

The group said that negotiations for the pilgrims’ release are possible as soon as Hezbollah’s leader apologizes over his pro-Assad position.