BEIRUT —  A senior official in a Lebanese party supportive of the Syrian regime was shot dead Thursday, Feb. 20, in the northern city of Tripoli, sparking clashes in which two people were killed.

“Masked gunmen opened fire at 7:00 a.m. on Abdelrahman Diab,” a senior official in the Arab Democratic Party, as he drove through Tripoli, which sees frequent deadly clashes between supporters and opponents of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a security official said. He added that hooded gunmen shot Diab in the head and stomach.

A party official confirmed the killing and said Diab was in charge of “military” affairs.

Diab is the father of Youssef Diab, who has been detained by Lebanese authorities on suspicion of involvement in the twin bombings of a Tripoli mosque in August that killed 45 people last August.

Tripoli has been the scene of frequent deadly clashes between Alawite residents of the Jabal Mohsen district, who hail from the same religious sect as Assad, and Sunnis in neighboring Bab al-Tebbaneh who support the Syrian rebels.

As news of the assassination spread, shots rang out between the two neighborhoods and at least two people were killed and five were wounded, with Lebanese army troops moving to seal off the area.