BEIRUT (AP) — Security officials say clashes between pro and anti-Syrian groups in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli have killed at least one person and wounded five. The officials say the fighting started shortly before midnight Friday and continued Saturday. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. Lebanon and Syria share a complex web of political and sectarian ties and rivalries, which are easily enflamed. Clashes in Tripoli last month killed at least eight people in a spillover of the conflict in Syria. The split is between Sunni Muslims who support Syrian rebels trying to oust President Bashar Assad and members of the tiny Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. Alawites are Assad's most loyal supporters.
Pro and anti-Syrian groups clash in north Lebanon
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This Thursday, May 31, 2012 citizen journalism image provided by Shaam News Network SNN, purports to show Syrian mourners gathered around the bodies of eleven workers killed by gunmen on their way to work Thursday at a state-owned fertilizer factory in the central province of Homs, Syria. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network, SNN) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS HANDOUT PHOTO.
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This citizen journalism image provided by Shaam News Network SNN, taken on Thursday May 31, 2012 purports to show a Syrian man mourning over two of eleven workers killed by gunmen when they were on their way to work Thursday at a state-owned fertilizer factory in the central province of Homs. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network, SNN)THE ASSOCIATED PRESS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS HANDOUT PHOTO
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This citizen journalism image provided by Shaam News Network SNN, taken on Thursday May 31, 2012 purports to show a Syrian man mourning over his dead relative, one of the eleven workers who killed by gunmen when they were on their way to work Thursday at a state-owned fertilizer factory in the central province of Homs. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network, SNN)THE ASSOCIATED PRESS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS HANDOUT PHOTO
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This image made from amateur video released by Shaam News Network and accessed Friday, June 1, 2012, purports to show the bodies of Syrian workers who were killed near Qusair, in Homs province, Syria. Gunmen killed several workers at a state-owned fertilizer factory in a volatile central Syrian province, activists said Friday, the second execution-style shooting reported in Syria in less than a week. The shooting near the town of Qusair in Homs province occurred Thursday as the workers were on their way to their jobs in a bus that came under fire, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network via AP video) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CANNOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE CONTENT, DATE, LOCATION OR AUTHENTICITY OF THIS MATERIAL.
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This image made from amateur video released by Shaam News Network and accessed Friday, June 1, 2012, purports to show the bodies of Syrian workers who were killed near Qusair, in Homs province, Syria. Gunmen killed several workers at a state-owned fertilizer factory in a volatile central Syrian province, activists said Friday, the second execution-style shooting reported in Syria in less than a week. The shooting near the town of Qusair in Homs province occurred Thursday as the workers were on their way to their jobs in a bus that came under fire, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network via AP video) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CANNOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE CONTENT, DATE, LOCATION OR AUTHENTICITY OF THIS MATERIAL.
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This image made from amateur video released by Shaam News Network and accessed Friday, June 1, 2012, purports to show the funeral for a Syrian worker killed near Qusair, in Homs province, Syria. Gunmen killed several workers at a state-owned fertilizer factory in a volatile central Syrian province, activists said Friday, the second execution-style shooting reported in Syria in less than a week. The shooting near the town of Qusair in Homs province occurred Thursday as the workers were on their way to their jobs in a bus that came under fire, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network via AP video) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CANNOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE CONTENT, DATE, LOCATION OR AUTHENTICITY OF THIS MATERIAL
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A Syrian girl wears revolutionary Syrian flag colors on her face during a protest in solidarity with victims of the Houla massacre in front of the Syrian embassy in Amman, Jordan, Thursday, May 31, 2012. Syria on Thursday blamed up to 800 rebel fighters for the massacre in central Syria last week that killed more than 100 people, nearly half of them children, in its most comprehensive explanation to date of the bloodshed. (AP photo/Mohammad Hannon)
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Kofi Annan, the U.N.-Arab League Joint Special Envoy for Syria, speaks during a press conference after his meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, unseen, at the governmental palace in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, June 1, 2012. Annan said he is "impatient and frustrated," special envoy Kofi Annan called on the Syrian president Friday to implement a U.N.-brokered peace plan following a horrific weekend massacre that killed more than 100 people. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
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Kofi Annan, the U.N.-Arab League Joint Special Envoy for Syria, speaks during a press conference after his meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, unseen, at the governmental palace in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, June 1, 2012. Annan said he is "impatient and frustrated," special envoy Kofi Annan called on the Syrian president Friday to implement a U.N.-brokered peace plan following a horrific weekend massacre that killed more than 100 people. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
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Kofi Annan, the U.N.-Arab League Joint Special Envoy for Syria, speaks during a press conference after his meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, unseen, at the governmental palace in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, June 1, 2012. Annan said he is "impatient and frustrated," special envoy Kofi Annan called on the Syrian president Friday to implement a U.N.-brokered peace plan following a horrific weekend massacre that killed more than 100 people. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
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This citizen journalism image provided by Shaam News Network SNN, taken on Thursday May 31, 2012 purports to show a Syrian man mourning over his dead relative who is one of eleven workers who killed by gunmen when they were on their way to work Thursday at a state-owned fertilizer factory in the central province of Homs, Syria. Saying he is "impatient and frustrated," special envoy Kofi Annan called on the Syrian president Friday to implement a U.N.-brokered peace plan following a horrific weekend massacre that killed more than 100 people. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network, SNN)THE ASSOCIATED PRESS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS HANDOUT PHOTO
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Fayssal al-Hamwi, Syria's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, attends a special session of the Human Rights Council at the U.N.'s European headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, Friday, June 1, 2012. The Human Rights Council held a special session to discuss the human rights situation in Syria following the horrific weekend massacre that killed more than 100 people in Houla. (AP Photo/Keystone, Salvatore Di Nolfi)
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Faysal Khabbaz Hamoui, Ambassador of the Permanent Representative Mission of the Syrian Arab Republic to Geneva, attends a special session of the Human Rights Council at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Friday, June 1, 2012. The Human Rights Council holds a special session on "the deterioration of the human rights situation in the Syrian Arab Republic and the recent killings in Houla". (AP Photo/Keystone, Salvatore Di Nolfi)
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Faysal Khabbaz Hamoui, Ambassador of the Permanent Representative Mission of the Syrian Arab Republic to Geneva, delivers his statement during a special session of the Human Rights Council at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Friday, June 1, 2012. The Human Rights Council holds a special session on "the deterioration of the human rights situation in the Syrian Arab Republic and the recent killings in Houla". (AP Photo/Keystone, Salvatore Di Nolfi)
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French President Francois Hollande, left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, Friday, June 1, 2012. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Alexei Nikolsky, Government Press Service)
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, welcomes President of Russia Vladimir Putin, left, for a meeting at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Friday, June 1, 2012. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)
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