“This is a war” says Alfonso Moral, a seasoned war  photographer. The streets are deserted and sniper fire as well as the occasional RPG and mortar pierces the night. We are staying the night with Sheikh Chadi, who leads one of the many factions in Bab al-Tabbaneh, Tripoli. On Thursday, fighting was fierce throughout the night, on Friday night it was relatively calm, for Bab al Tabbaneh anyway.

The Sunni area has been in conflict with the neighbouring Alawite area of Jabal Mohsen since the 80s. “Since 2008, there have been clashes every three months” my host Sheikh Chadi tells me. “But since the Syrian revolution, it is every month.”

The latest round of clashes was provoked by the killing of 14 Lebanese fighters in Syria, just across the border in Talkalakh. Videos are circulating in the neighbourhood of their bodies being mutilated. Three different residents showed me a video…