Lebanons Tripoli

As talks between Libya's rival factions drag on, experts say there is little hope of a political deal and are warning of protracted civil war and a rise in Islamic extremism.

A double suicide attack that killed eight people at a cafe in the Lebanese city of Tripoli was carried out by the Islamic State group, the interior minister said on Sunday, contradicting a claim of responsibility by the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front.

Two suicide bombers killed nine people and wounded 37 others in an attack on a cafe in a flashpoint Alawite neighbourhood of the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli Saturday, officials said.

A suicide blast killed seven people and wounded 36 others in a flashpoint Alawite neighbourhood of the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli Saturday, a Red Cross official and the army said.

Thousands of civilians fled their homes on Sunday in a battered district of northern Lebanon's Tripoli, taking advantage of an informal truce in fighting between the army and Islamist militants.

Lebanese security forces killed a bomb maker and arrested another prominent militant suspect overnight in the northern city of Tripoli, sending armed supporters onto the streets in protest, security sources said on Sunday.

Faced with recent setbacks in Iraq and Syria, al Qaeda is slowly but firmly gaining influence in Lebanon, helped by the country's increasing sectarian violence and the turmoil caused by Syria's civil war, sources close to the group say.

Bombs hit two mosques in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli today, killing at least 42 people and wounding hundreds, intensifying sectarian strife that has spilled over from the civil war in neighbouring Syria.

Powerful car bombs exploded today outside two Sunni mosques in a Lebanese city riven by strife over the war in neighbouring Syria, killing 29 people and wounding 500, officials said.

Lebanese army units battled followers of a hard-line Sunni cleric holed up in a mosque complex in a southern port city on Monday, the second day of fighting that has left at least 16 soldiers dead, the military said.

Hezbollah guerrillas fought a deadly battle with Syrian rebels in Lebanon's eastern border region early on Sunday, security sources said, in the latest eruption of Syria's conflict on Lebanese soil.

Two rockets hit a Shi'ite Muslim district of Beirut on Sunday, driving home the risk of spillover from Syria's civil war, after the head of Lebanese Shi'ite movement Hezbollah said it would keep fighting on the Syrian government's side until victory.

Four people were wounded on Sunday when two rockets exploded in the Shiite-majority Hezbollah heartland of south Beirut, a Lebanese security source said.

Firefights in northern Lebanon between Sunni Muslims and Alawites -- the Shiite offshoot sect to which Syrian President Bashar al-Assad belongs -- have killed 30 people, a security source said on Saturday.

Five people were killed and more than 50 wounded in overnight clashes in Tripoli between Lebanese gunmen backing rival factions in Syria's civil war, doctors and security sources said today.

As talks between Libya's rival factions drag on, experts say there is little hope of a political deal and are warning of protracted civil war and a rise in Islamic extremism.

A double suicide attack that killed eight people at a cafe in the Lebanese city of Tripoli was carried out by the Islamic State group, the interior minister said on Sunday, contradicting a claim of responsibility by the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front.

Two suicide bombers killed nine people and wounded 37 others in an attack on a cafe in a flashpoint Alawite neighbourhood of the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli Saturday, officials said.

A suicide blast killed seven people and wounded 36 others in a flashpoint Alawite neighbourhood of the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli Saturday, a Red Cross official and the army said.

Thousands of civilians fled their homes on Sunday in a battered district of northern Lebanon's Tripoli, taking advantage of an informal truce in fighting between the army and Islamist militants.

Lebanese security forces killed a bomb maker and arrested another prominent militant suspect overnight in the northern city of Tripoli, sending armed supporters onto the streets in protest, security sources said on Sunday.

Faced with recent setbacks in Iraq and Syria, al Qaeda is slowly but firmly gaining influence in Lebanon, helped by the country's increasing sectarian violence and the turmoil caused by Syria's civil war, sources close to the group say.

Bombs hit two mosques in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli today, killing at least 42 people and wounding hundreds, intensifying sectarian strife that has spilled over from the civil war in neighbouring Syria.

Powerful car bombs exploded today outside two Sunni mosques in a Lebanese city riven by strife over the war in neighbouring Syria, killing 29 people and wounding 500, officials said.

Lebanese army units battled followers of a hard-line Sunni cleric holed up in a mosque complex in a southern port city on Monday, the second day of fighting that has left at least 16 soldiers dead, the military said.

Hezbollah guerrillas fought a deadly battle with Syrian rebels in Lebanon's eastern border region early on Sunday, security sources said, in the latest eruption of Syria's conflict on Lebanese soil.

Two rockets hit a Shi'ite Muslim district of Beirut on Sunday, driving home the risk of spillover from Syria's civil war, after the head of Lebanese Shi'ite movement Hezbollah said it would keep fighting on the Syrian government's side until victory.

Four people were wounded on Sunday when two rockets exploded in the Shiite-majority Hezbollah heartland of south Beirut, a Lebanese security source said.

Firefights in northern Lebanon between Sunni Muslims and Alawites -- the Shiite offshoot sect to which Syrian President Bashar al-Assad belongs -- have killed 30 people, a security source said on Saturday.

Five people were killed and more than 50 wounded in overnight clashes in Tripoli between Lebanese gunmen backing rival factions in Syria's civil war, doctors and security sources said today.