Naharnet

Al-Shaar Says al-Rahi to Visit Tripoli in November

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi is scheduled to visit the northern city of Tripoli on the first week of November, Tripoli Mufti Sheikh Malek al-Shaar said.

Al-Shaar said that he held talks with al-Rahi in Diman on Wednesday.

The patriarch postponed a visit to Tripoli last February over bloody clashes between two rival neighborhoods.

The majority Sunni neighborhood of Bab al-Tabbaneh and mainly Alawite Jabal Mohsen witnessed two days of gunbattles at the time, when gunmen from the two sides clashed, leaving several people dead.

But clashes renew occasionally and the latest were in August when scores were killed and injured during five days of fighting.

On Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Lebanon next week, al-Shaar said he highly valued such a trip during the exceptional circumstances that the Arab region is going through.

The pope is welcomed in Lebanon and there is consensus among all parties on that, he added.


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