[Music]
welcome to Tripoli Lebanon second city
in a town living on the brink of chaos
Tripoli is only an hour's drive north
through the glittering boutiques and
flash nightclubs of Beirut but it's a
completely different world like
neighboring Syria Tripoli is a
predominantly Sunni Muslim city within
the battled Alawite minority just one
street ironically called Syria Street
separates the two warring communities
now it looks like the conflicts in Syria
is threatening to spill over into
Lebanon and Tripoli is ready to explode
we're driving in central Tripoli we can
hear gunfire to come in and celebrate
your gunfire for now the local Sunnis
are celebrating the return of the
prominent Sunni militia punana and for
months and exile
[Music]
celebrate sorry seen here local fighters
they're shooting into the earth just
come back from exile
it's the Sheep it's the big day the
Sunni fighters the Baptizer Zadar
mastery had spent months in Turkey the
main logistics base for the rebel Free
Syrian Army but now Tripoli Sunnis what
they're Alawite neighbors to know he's
back in town had come to Tripoli to
spend time in zyada Lukie a major Sunni
militia commander and one of Saud Masri
subordinates
[Applause]
the aunt brought me in to meet his boss
and get a sense of what was going on in
Tripoli
the bombs aren't a laughing master in
Tripoli a couple of months earlier a car
bomb outside the city's main Sunni
mosque killed 42 worshippers raising
tensions even further the dragging the
city to the brink of all-out war Tripoli
Sunnis blame the sheer militant group
Hezbollah for the car bomb as well as
their hated Alawite neighbors his
hilltop district of Jabal Mohsen
overlooks the impoverished Sunni babbled
to bana neighborhood Hezbollah is a
dominant force in Lebanese politics and
his army of fighters in neighboring
Syria is slowly turning the war in
Assad's favor both Hezbollah and Jeb
emotions Alawite Arab Democratic Party
led by riff cut a lead I hate figures
for Tripoli Sunnis as subhanAllah calls
prepare for Friday prayers as he adds
planning a show of force leading patrol
of Fighters as they set up a protective
cordon around the local mosque this we
secure this mosque which good can you
explain what is securing it from from
exclusive or any bomb from Syria and
murder or any guys want to put any bomb
here this how do you become a commander
he starts off as a fighter and work they
are not exactly what you say maybe we
come in commander for our area my family
my friends they call me to protect them
and to help them this will become to be
common here so 12 people two people here
Savannah's disaffected Sunnis to the
Alawite cinge ever Molson as an outpost
of Syria's hated Assad regime when
tensions are running as high as this you
don't want to be an Alawite into banner
everybody gay come on come on
[Music]
but them
this travel mug same yeah
anyhow I was a inspire us but now
because it's ahead of how we let him go
away free if it wasn't aid what he did
wasn't intense if it is now read we take
a with them our fighting not because we
love the guns and we've been done not at
all
we fighting that's only to defense our
system to defense our relation here what
we have relation between our family
health big relation yeah but we muslim
sunni and everybody here there's none
easy truth the duration of the fascism
eat a lotta the entire city's basic for
fighting to flare up as soon as the
holidays are over
did they have more money g3 so as you
see we need weapons
we give also and we need polish and we
polish also because they have many many
many magazine mini stores yeah anyone in
America and zarab want to help us we are
very same thing so any guys wanted the
Muslims in here and hopefully we are
releasing him believe me we needed we
needed to defense our Muslims in here at
the poly