The battle lines of Syria are reflected in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli. In the north of city, the Sunni neighborhood of Bab el Tebbaneh faces the Alawite community of Jabal Mohsen. The two areas are divided by Syria Street which is often criss-crossed by bullets and bombs.
The Sunnis support their Syrian co-religionists who are rebelling against the regime of President Bashar Assad in Damascus while the Alawites support the President who is also Alawite.
Many residents of both areas have gone to fight in Syria while those that remain are also drawn into violence. Since March 2011, almost 200 from both sides of Syria St have been killed in bombings and shootings. In the most recent major incident, nine people were killed and more than 30 wounded on Jan. 10 in a Jabal Mohsen café when two suicide bombers blew themselves up.
The two communities have been in conflict for centuries in the Levant. The Ottoman Empire persecuted the Alawites in the 19th century while Alawites have been ascendant in the 20th, first as allies of the French rulers of Syria and Lebanon and secondly when Hafez Assad took power in Syria in 1966.
The communities were not separated until the Lebanese Civil War (1976-1990). The Alawites of Jabal Mohsen, the raised area of the city, sided with Syria, while the Sunnis of Bab el Tebbaneh on the plain stood with Sunni Islamists groups. To this day Saudi Arabia is believed to finance Bab el-Tebbaneh, while Syria and Iran are seen as the backers of Jabal Mohsen.
The communities are among the poorest in Lebanon yet rather than provide common ground, this makes them more vulnerable to outside manipulation. Both communities are neglected by Beirut and suffer poor public services and rising unemployment. The militias are often the only employment for young men.
These photos show both communities getting on with their lives amid the chaos of past conflict, with the knowledge that it probably won’t be long until it is once again time to take cover.
Stefano de Luigi is a Milan-based photographer represented by VII Photo.
Conal Urquhart is a senior editor at TIME. He is based in London.
The Lebanese army took control of the streets in Tripoli in December 2013. Since then, there have been deadly clashes with Salafist fighters. The fighting has caused major damage to the impoverished Sunni district of Bab al-Tebbaneh. Tripoli, Lebanon, Nov. and Dec. 2014.Stefano de Luigi—VII PhotoJabal Mohsen, an Alawite enclave in Tripoli, Lebanon, Nov. and Dec. 2014.Stefano de Luigi—VII PhotoUm Mustapha, 27, lives in an house close to the gate of the souk in the Sunni neighborhood of Bab al-Tabbaneh, Tripoli, Lebanon, Nov. and Dec. 2014.Stefano de Luigi—VII PhotoAdel cleans what remains of his supermarket destroyed during the shelling of Bab al-Tabbaneh, Tripoli, Lebanon, Nov. and Dec. 2014.Stefano de Luigi—VII PhotoJabal Mohsen, an Alawite enclave in Tripoli, Lebanon, Nov. and Dec. 2014.Stefano de Luigi—VII PhotoChild labor is widespread in the city of Tripoli, Lebanon, Nov. and Dec. 2014.Stefano de Luigi—VII PhotoA general view of the neighborhood of Jabal Mohsen and the Sunni cemetery of the neighborhood of Bab al-Tabbaneh, Tripoli, Lebanon, Nov. and Dec. 2014.Stefano de Luigi—VII PhotoStudents attending a lesson at the elementary school Dar al-Salam, in the sunni neighborhood of Bab al-Tabbaneh, Tripoli, Lebanon, Nov. and Dec. 2014.Stefano de Luigi—VII PhotoStreet view in the neighborhood of Bab al-Tabbaneh near Syria Street, theater of bloody clashes between Sunnis and Alawites. Tripoli, Lebanon, Nov. and Dec. 2014.Stefano de Luigi—VII PhotoA young boy smoking his shisha in the neighborhood of Bab al-Tabbaneh, Tripoli, Lebanon, Nov. and Dec. 2014.Stefano de Luigi—VII PhotoThe gate of the souk in the neighborhood of Bab al-Tabbaneh, Tripoli, Lebanon, Nov. and Dec. 2014.Stefano de Luigi—VII PhotoAlia Khadour, 62, on the balcony of her home in the Alawite neighborhood of Jabal Mohsen. Tripoli, Lebanon, Nov. and Dec. 2014.Stefano de Luigi—VII PhotoAbdallah Mohammed, 25, shows the wound he sustained during the shelling of Bab al-Tabbaneh, Tripoli, Lebanon, Nov. and Dec. 2014.Stefano de Luigi—VII PhotoAhmad, 33, shows his friend's baby in sunni neighborhood of Bab al-Tabbaneh in Tripoli, Lebanon, Nov. and Dec. 2014.Stefano de Luigi—VII PhotoOn Aug. 23, 2013, two mosques were bombed in Tripoli, Lebanon, killing 47 people and injuring 500 in what has been called the "biggest and deadliest" bombing in Tripoli since the end of Lebanon's civil war. This is what remains of a blasted car, which has become a monument in memory of the victims. It was built in front of the Mosque Al-Taqwa, Tripoli, Lebanon, Nov. and Dec. 2014.Stefano de Luigi—VII PhotoSheikh Salem Rifai, the religious leader of the salafist mosque Al-Taqwa in Tripoli, Lebanon, Nov. and Dec. 2014.Stefano de Luigi—VII PhotoMore than 1.13 million Syrians have registered as refugees with the UN in Lebanon, but reports put the figure much higher.Lebanon has all but closed its borders to refugees fleeing Syria’s civil war. Tripoli, Lebanon, Nov. and Dec. 2014.Stefano de Luigi—VII PhotoAn old man living in the informal camp of Syrian refugees Minieh 1 in the suburb of Tripoli, Lebanon, Nov. and Dec. 2014.Stefano de Luigi—VII PhotoA father with his son in the informal refugee camp in Enfe, a suburb of Tripoli, Lebanon, Nov. and Dec. 2014.Stefano de Luigi—VII PhotoJabal Mohsen, an Alawite enclave in Tripoli, Lebanon, Nov. and Dec. 2014.Stefano de Luigi—VII Photo
