audio, stills, text and or video: Go to zReportage.com to see more - The government in Beirut has struggled for months to try to limit the repercussions from the vicious warfare raging in Syria and to avoid that conflict reviving the Lebanese civil war of 1975-1990 - a crisis that left 120,000 Lebanese dead and a quarter of the population wounded. In Lebanon's second largest city, Tripoli, Alawites loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad's government battle with Sunni's that support the Free Syrian opposition that live within blocks of each other. Like Syria, Tripoli is mostly Sunni with the minority Alawite a shiite derived sect that the Syrian president and much of his government belong to. In a report last month the NGO Human Rights Watch accused the Lebanese authorities of being weak in response to the fighting in Tripoli, with Lebanon adrift and a fragile caretaker government overshadowed with politicians squabbling over the formation of a replacement, tougher action beyond trying to contain the fighting seems unlikely.
© Osie GreenwayzReportage.com/ZUMA Press
Aug. 16, 2013 - Tripoli, Lebanon - ABU AHMED, a Sunni fighter prepares for clashes and shares his thoughts on ending the conflict in Tripoli,''If the Lebanese army came and disarmed all militias, I would be pleased,'' says Abu Ahmed continuing, ''I'm an interior decorator, I miss my line of work and I'm tired of fighting.'' He wears a ski mask to remain unrecognizable to the Lebanese army when patrolling the streets.
© Osie Greenway/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
Aug. 16, 2013 - Tripoli, Lebanon - ABU AHMED, a sniper from the Sunni al Farruq brigade from Bab al Tebbaneh displays his recent wounds from clashes with the Alawite fighters. A bullet entered from behind his jaw and exited at the lower gums and another shattered his thumb. He explained that Lebanese hospitals are weary of treating wounded fighters because of consequences from the Lebanese Army. Ahmed was imprisoned in the most feared Syrian prison in Palmyra, ''I spent 16 years in a Syrian prison, I can not afford to trust anyone who allies with Bashar Assad,'' he explains.
© Osie Greenway/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
Sept. 10, 2013 - Tripoli, Lebanon - An overview of the Bab al Tebbaneh neighborhood from Jabal Mohsen during sporadic clashes, this area is where fighting in the last 3 years has been constant until the recent crack down by the Lebanese Army and Internal Security forces in early April of 2014.
© Osie Greenway/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
Aug. 16, 2013 - Tripoli, Lebanon - Lebanese Sunnis in Tripoli are illegally arming themselves with the latest in modern weaponry from black markets in Tripoli for upcoming escalation in violence due to recent bombings and the spillover of the Syrian civil war.
© Osie Greenway/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
Sept. 10, 2013 - Tripoli, Lebanon - Posters of Alawite martyrs line walls of the streets inside Jabal Mohsen the majority Alawite community that are devout supporters of President Bashar Al-Assad and have been engaged in over 19 rounds of clashes with their Sunni neighbors in Bab al Tebbaneh who support the Syrian oppostion. Clashes have recently ceased due to the Security plan that was put into effect by the Lebanese army on the 1st of April 2014.
© Osie Greenway/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
Aug. 16, 2013 - Tripoli, Lebanon - ABU HASSIN, 38, a 'freelance fighter' meaning he belongs to no specific group gets equipment checked and ready for possible clashes after sundown. Hassin, has been a fighter and leader in the neighborhood since the Syrian occupation. Sunni fighters some who have been fighting in the area for over twenty years in Bab al Tabbaneh believe the time is coming for major conflict against the Alawite militias based in nearby Jabal Mohsen.
© Osie Greenway/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
Oct. 24, 2013 - Tripoli, Lebanon - A look at the bullet-riddled buildings of Jabal Mohsen through a snipers firing position in Bab al Tebbaneh during the 19th round of clashes. Bunkers like these line the streets and sometimes rest inside homes and abandoned buildings in the area.
© Osie Greenway/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
Oct. 24, 2013 - Tripoli, Lebnon - Sniper tarps are erected in the streets of Bab al Tebbaneh while under fire from Alawite fighters based in Jabal Mohsen. These men wait for the runners to toss the cord so they can pull it like a sail until fully open over the intersection. This will allow traffic and fighters to cross the large intersection more freely.
© Osie Greenway/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
Oct. 24, 2013 - Tripoli, Lebanon - ABU KODER, 18, fights with the al Farruq brigade in Bab al Tebanneh. 'Schools closed today,' he says as his fellow fighters joke with him and explain how brave he is in battle. The fighters in Tebanneh are of all ages but mostly rage in their late teens and early 20s.
© Osie Greenway/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
June 6, 2013 - Tripoli, Lebanon - Lebanese Army armored units patrol the streets of Tripoli in an attempt to quell a six day stretch of clashes between Alawite and Sunni militias. The Lebanese army in October of 2013 was ordered to stay in Tripoli for six months and continue heavy patrols and re-enforce all positions and check points.
© Osie Greenway/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
Aug. 16, 2013 - Tripoli, Lebanon - ABU AHMED, a Sunni fighter prepares for clashes and shares his thoughts on ending the conflict in Tripoli. ''If the Lebanese army came and disarmed all militias, I would be pleased,'' says Abu Ahmed. ''I'm an interior decorator, I miss my line of work and I'm tired of fighting.'' He wears a ski mask to remain unrecognizable to the Lebanese army when patrolling the streets.
© Osie Greenway/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
Aug. 16, 2013 - Tripoli, Lebanon - This battle-scarred building in Bab al Tabbaneh is covered in Sunni martyr posters who have died both in Tripoli and fighting in Syria. It is a monument to the Sunni brigades in the area and a symbol to the older fighters who stopped the Syrian army occupation at this building from advancing deeper into Tripoli in the early 1980s.
© Osie Greenway/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
