TRIPOLI/ZAHRANI, Lebanon: Two protests were held Friday as residents took to the streets of the northern city of Tripoli to protest against the Syrian regime, while Syrian workers marched in support of the Syrian President Bashar Assad in the south.

In what has become a weekly event, residents of the Qibbeh neighborhood of Tripoli marched following Friday prayers in support of the uprising in Syria against President Bashar Assad.

For the first time, the residents also organized a protest in front of the International Red Cross office in the area near the Rashid Karami Fairgrounds.

Worshippers from Hamza Mosque walked through the streets of Qibbeh, stopping at at Ibn Sina Square, where they raised banners with messages of support for the Syrian popular uprising and condemned the regime’s oppression of the “peaceful demonstrators in various Syrian cities and towns.”

The protesters also held photographs of several victims who were killed in the uprising and chanted in support of the opposition Syrian National Council.

Delivering Friday’s sermon at Hamza Mosque, Sheikh Zakaria Masri warned the Lebanese, especially residents of Tripoli, of “the strife Hezbollah seeks to spread” by pitting supporters of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri against those of Prime Minister Najib Mikati in order to control both groups.

“The supporters of Mikati should be the supporters of Hariri especially as [Mikati] is trying to fund the Special Tribunal for Lebanon,” Masri said.

Meanwhile, around 300 Syrian workers in an agricultural area in Zahrani gathered after Friday noon prayers and marched in support of the Syrian regime.

The demonstrators held posters of Syrian President Bashar Assad and his late father Hafez, and chanted slogans in support of Assad, Speaker Nabih Berri and Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah.

The demonstrators pledged that they would fulfill their duty and return to Syria if they were asked to defend it.

Members of the Lebanese Army mobilized on the road where the demonstrators marched and some army personnel were seen holding truncheons.