(CNN) -- The news of Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati's resignation spurred fierce weekend clashes in his hometown, the coastal city of Tripoli. Residents lobbed rockets and fired bullets at one another Saturday, leaving at least three people wounded, state news agency NNA reported. The city is home to both Alawite and Sunni Muslims, and sectarian tensions have worsened in recent months as the civil war in neighboring Syria rages on. The Alawites support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The Sunnis want his ouster. The Lebanese government has remained officially neutral in the conflict -- even as it has firmly, but quietly, supported al-Assad.
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His departure comes at a sensitive time for Lebanon
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Mikati says he couldn't negotiate a breakthrough on two fronts
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Lebanon constantly struggles to maintain a balance among its sects
The major concern for @placeholder is that Syria's troubles will reopen the wounds of Lebanon's 15-year-long civil war, which ended in 1990.
Anti-al-@placeholder elements in Lebanon accused the Syrian government of being behind the attack, and popular protests -- along with international pressure -- forced the Syrian military to withdraw from the country.