Last night, at around 10.30 pm, the citizens of Tripoli, the second biggest city in Lebanon, started hearing gunshots, automatic weapons fire, and even rocket-propelled grenades.
Where there afraid? “We got used to it” we say..and we did

The two neighboring small areas of Tripoli: Bab al Tebbaneh and Jabal Mehsen, are known for the conflicts and the clashes they always get into. the reasons are many, the results are always the same: innocent lives wasted, peace disturbed and blood spilled.
to understand what’s happening, we have to understand the citizens themselves: both areas are actually quite similar: poverty is omnipresent, the state of the houses is simply pathetic, all people suffer from economical problems, health problems, because of poor hygiene, as well as ignorance and lack of education...
You find the houses extremely close one to another, and many families living in the same small not well-kept apartment..
Now one would wonder why do people with the same problems fight instead of uniting?

Anyone in the city of Tripoli would tell u, these people were fighting for as long as he can remember. In fact, the inhabitants of Bab al tebbaneh are mainly, if not exclusively, Sunni Muslims, where as Jabal Mehsen’s are mainly Alawites, an offshoot of Shiite Muslims. Word in the street says the Jabal inhabitants are almost all Syrians, residents in Lebanon, and followers of the Syrian government from inside Lebanon, and supporters of the Lebanese opposition. The Sunnis however are followers of the Lebanese government, and that’s what seems to be causing the tension between them today. but the conflict is far more ancient than that, when two old renown families got into a conflict, the two areas have been fighting for every silly purpose ever since. Being aggressive and impatient by nature, these two would not think twice before clashing the gun into some rival’s face. This hastiness in behavior sure is causing a lot of pain, in Tripoli, and all Lebanon by consequence.

Now the security issues are well known on al the news, what is more important are the people: these incidents are causing far more than security issues and deaths. It’s a long term crisis in north Lebanon, economical on one hand, and social on the other. These clashes and irresponsible behavior of the two rivaling districts are causing all of Tripoli to stay on guards 24/7: on one hand one wouldn’t risk staying out too late: “you never know what might happen” they say... on the other hand this is causing an arousing tension between the rest of the Tripolitain, for some tend to take sides, and the clashes are then only promising to expand..

The ones that seem to be suffering emotionally most are probably the students of North Lebanon, as the exams keep getting postponed due to the clashes. “this is very frustrating” says a first year student in the Letters Faculty of the Lebanese university, 3rd branch (north), ” you study for the exam for several days, and then it gets postponed! we simply are losing our nerves, we just wish they’d wait till we finish the exams, and then all hell can break loose!!”
this is not only abut university students: Lebanese minister of education found himself obliged to allow students taking their Official exams to take them at another date (to be determined later) for many students are simply not able to access their schools. the clashes are actually taking place at one of the main entrances of the city, and with all the shooting going in there, and the soldiers banning people from passing for their own safety, who could possibly take a test?!

its not very different for people from outside town (who are very many) who work in Tripoli: they cannot access their workplace! Some would take this as a vacation, but this is more serious.
After the May agreement, things where seen to have settled, but last night, trouble erupted again, for yet unknown reasons. Could it be simple tentative to start another civil war? Or is it simply or protest about the not-yet formed government? maybe is it a warning, no one knows for sure... All that the Tripolitains are wondering is : will this ever end?