TRIPOLI/BEIRUT: Cautious calm prevailed in the northern city of Tripoli Sunday after two days of armed clashes between supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad killed three people and left over 20 wounded. Residents who had fled their homes in the two impoverished neighborhoods of Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh returned to asses the damage to their homes and businesses Stores began reopening, while the Lebanese Army organized patrols in the area.

The calm was briefly interrupted when mourners in Bab al-Tabbaneh opened fire during the funeral procession of Walid Bathish, who was killed during the violence.

Four people are receiving hospital treatment, including a 20-year-old who is believed to be in critical condition.

The Lebanese Army, which intervened Friday to stem the violence, saw at least six of its members wounded. In a statement Sunday, the military said it defused a bomb which was prepared to be detonated in an abandoned house in Bab al-Tabbaneh.

Violence broke out around noon Friday between predominantly Alawite Jabal Mohsen, whose residents back Assad, and mainly Sunni Bab al-Tabbaneh, where support for the 11-month-old uprising against Assad runs high.

Muslim religious leaders in Tripoli and the north stressed the need to extend state authority across the country to protect people from “armed aggression.” Gathering at Dar al-Fatwa in Tripoli on the call of Sheikh Malek Shaar, the mufti of Tripoli and the north, the religious leaders called upon all political groups Saturday not to protect any person undermining security and stability.

“People of Tripoli of various sects are the people of one city and of one fabric, they should deal with each other taking all this into consideration,” said a statement by the attendees.

Rifaat Ali Eid, the head of the Arab Democratic Party, which holds sway in Jabal Mohsen, said that some groups have threatened to target the area in retaliation for the ongoing bombing of the Syrian city of Homs, an opposition hub.

Speaking at a news conference from his home in Jabal Mohsen Saturday, Eid added that grenades were tossed on Jabal Mohsen by residents of Bab al-Tabbaneh over the five days preceeding the outbreak of violence.

Eid accused the Internal Security Forces’ Information Branch of sparking strife in Tripoli, stressing that residents of Jabal Mohsen would not be dragged to strife.

The ADP leader dubbed Future Movement officials as “the kings of arms,” alleging that an weapons cache which exploded in Tripoli Friday belonged to the party. A person identified as Naaman Dalati was killed in the explosion.

But Eid’s claims over the weapons depot were dismissed by Mustafa Alloush, a Future Movement official in the northern city.

“We strongly deny that our movement has links to any armed activity, transferring or storing arms,” Alloush told a news conference at his house in Tripoli.

He implicitly accused the ADP of prompting the clashes, saying that some groups “whose affiliation is well-known are targeting Tripoli again ... and tying [the fate of] a dear segment of the city’s people to the survival or the fall of a regime [in Damascus] which is on the verge of collapse.”

Separately, the Lebanese Army vowed over the weekend to crack down on individuals involved in the incidents and said in a statement it had apprehended a number of armed men and confiscated ammunition.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati, speaking in Paris Saturday, voiced confidence that the Army would resolve the unrest, adding that he was in contact with military officials. – With additional reporting by Dana Khraiche