Ongoing fighting spills into Lebanon

The Lebanese army fanned out in the city of Tripoli in an attempt to calm the fighting, with soldiers patrolling the streets in armoured personnel carriers and manning checkpoints.

They closed major roads because of sniper fire.

The Syrian conflict has spilled over into Turkey, Israel and Jordan over the past 20 months, but Lebanon is particularly vulnerable to getting sucked in. The countries share a complex web of political and sectarian ties and traditional rivalries that are easily enflamed.

Tensions in Tripoli have been mounting since last week, when reports emerged that at least a dozen Lebanese Sunni fighters had been killed inside Syria, apparently after they joined the rebellion against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

Syrian Ambassador Ali Abdul Karim Ali told Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour today that Damascus has agreed to repatriate the men's bodies.

Anti-Syrian politicians in Lebanon have criticised the government for what they call a lack of effort to get the bodies back.

The fighting in Tripoli pits the Sunni neighbourhood of Bab Tabbaneh, which supports Syria's predominantly Sunni rebels, against the adjacent Alawite neighbourhood of Jabal Mohsen, which supports President Assad.

Meanwhile, fighting continued inside Syria, with rebels clashing with government troops around the capital Damascus and a Syrian jet bombed the rebel-held town of Tal Abyad near the Turkish border.