BEIRUT — Lebanon’s state news agency says clashes between supporters of Syrian President Bashar Assad and opponents killed eight people in the northern city of Tripoli over the weekend.

The NNA said Sunday that 60 people were wounded.

Sectarian clashes linked to the war in neighboring Syria often flare between two impoverished rival neighborhoods in the rundown coastal city. The Bab Tabbaneh district is largely Sunni Muslim, as are most of the Syrian rebels fighting Assad’s rule. Residents of Jabal Mohsen are mostly of Assad’s Alawite sect.

Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign Up

Tripoli is overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim but the fighting rarely spreads beyond the two neighborhoods.

Fighting began Saturday after Sunni gunmen shot a man whose brother controls an Alawite militia, sparking gun battles that trapped children in schools and forced traders to flee their shops.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.