video transcript

As Lebanese troops are deployed in the streets of Tripoli, calm returns to its neighbourhoods - for the moment at least. Sixteen people died and dozens were wounded after sectarian clashes broke out on Monday, triggered by the conflict in Syria. Alawite and Sunni Muslim gunmen in rival neighbourhoods in the northern Lebanese city engaged in sporadic and often deadly skirmishes, with seven Alawite shops in mainly Sunni areas set on fire. The fighting reflects the sectarian divisions in Syria - which has influenced Lebanon for decades - which increasingly sets a mainly Sunni Muslims opposition against President Bashar al-Assad's Alawite minority. At least 10 Lebanese soldiers have also been wounded as they tried to stop the violence.