* Syria conflict heightens Tripoli tensions
* RPGs fired on Friday between rival districts
* Prime minister seeks neutral position on Syria
(Updates death toll)
TRIPOLI, Lebanon, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Two people were
killed and at least eight wounded in street battles in Lebanon's
northern city of Tripoli on Saturday, a security source said,
during a second day of clashes between supporters and opponents
of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The coastal city is dominated by Sunni Muslims who support
the 11-month uprising against Assad in neighbouring Syria, and
is also home to members of Assad's Alawite minority. The two
communities frequently clash, but tensions have heightened since
the outbreak of unrest in Syria.
Residents said rocket-propelled grenades were fired from the
Sunni Muslim district of Bab al-Tabbaneh towards the Alawite
district of Jebel Mohsen on Friday, but caused no injuries.
On Saturday, Reuters Television footage showed gunmen taking
cover on street corners and firing volleys of automatic gunfire.
"We are the supporters of the Syrian revolution in Lebanon,
and we are going to fight the shabbiha," one of the gunmen said,
referring to pro-Assad militias blamed by Syrian opposition
activists for much of the killing in Syria.
A Lebanese army statement said troops had deployed in the
Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jebel Mohsen districts to restore order and
were raiding areas that took part in the clashes, making arrests
and seizing weapons.
Several soldiers were wounded, one seriously, it said.
One man also died on Saturday after a weapons store exploded
in the Abu Samra district of Tripoli.
TENSIONS IN LEBANON
Friday's violence came after hundreds of people demonstrated
against Assad following weekly Muslim prayers, a regular
occurrence in Tripoli since protests against the Syrian leader
erupted last year.
The turmoil in Syria has fuelled tensions across Lebanon
where Syria has many allies, including the powerful Shi'ite
group Hezbollah, as well as foes who resent the nearly three
decades of Syrian military presence which ended in 2005.
Saad al-Hariri, the Sunni Muslim former prime minister who
was toppled last year by allies of pro-Syrian Shi'ite Hezbollah,
sought to step up pressure on Assad by calling for Arab states
to formally recognise the opposition Syrian National Council.
"The Syrian people are facing a military machine that does
not care for human and moral values," Hariri said in a statement
on Friday.
Arab states "should start by recognising the Syrian National
Council as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people,
and pull the rug from under the feet of the brutal regime."
Hariri's successor Prime Minister Najib Mikati, a Sunni
Muslim from Tripoli, acknowledged tension was high in the city,
"but the army is there....playing its role fully," he said.
Mikati has tried to maintain a neutral position over Syria,
stressing Lebanon's strong historical ties to Damascus but also
its wider Arab interests.
"We need to take into consideration the internal divisions
in Lebanon," Mikati's office quoted him as saying on a visit to
France on Saturday. For these reasons "we believe the preferable
option is to keep our distance from the events in Syria."
Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has defended Assad
and said he should be given the chance to implement reform.
Arab foreign ministers meet in Cairo on Sunday to consider
whether to extend or scrap an observer mission sent to Syria in
December. The mission was suspended last month as violence
escalated in Syria.
(Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
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