The news of Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati's resignation
spurred fierce weekend clashes in his hometown, the coastal city of Tripoli.
Residents lobbed rockets and fired bullets at one another
Saturday, leaving at least three people wounded, state news agency NNA
reported.
The city is home to both Alawite and Sunni Muslims, and sectarian
tensions have worsened in recent months as the civil war in neighboring Syria
rages on.
The Lebanese government has remained officially neutral in the
conflict -- even as it has firmly, but quietly, supported al-Assad.
And Mikati, while a Sunni, led that effort.
His departure, therefore, comes at a sensitive time for Lebanon.
Analysts say the longer the Syrian conflict rages, the more
destabilized Lebanon will become.