TRIPOLI, Lebanon (Reuters) - Five people were killed and more than 50 wounded in overnight clashes in Tripoli between Lebanese gunmen backing rival factions in Syria's civil war, doctors and security sources said on Thursday. Tripoli has suffered sporadic sectarian violence since the Sunni Muslim-led uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad broke out in March 2011, but after a night of mortar, grenade and machinegun fire, residents said this was the fiercest so far.

World powers early Thursday vowed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had no role in the future of Syria and pledged to boost support to the opposition until a transitional government is in place. In a joint statement issued at the end of more then five hours of talks in Jordan, the 11 nations agreed that "Assad, his regime, and his close associates with blood on their hands cannot play any role in the future of Syria". jkb/jj

AMMAN (Reuters) - The Friends of Syrian alliance called on Iran and its Lebanese Hezbollah ally on Thursday to withdraw fighters immediately from Syrian territory and described their armed presence in the country as a threat to regional stability. In a communiqué issued after a meeting in Amman, the alliance said any transitional government in Syria being proposed as a core of a U.S. and Russian peace initiative must have authority over the army and the executive, which are now in President Bashar Assad's hands.

By Arshad Mohammed AMMAN (Reuters) - Western governments are ready to increase support to opponents of President Bashar al-Assad if he rejects a political solution to Syria's civil war, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Wednesday. Kerry said recent military gains by Assad's forces were only temporary and that if the Syrian leader believed that the counter-offensives against the rebels would be decisive, "then he is miscalculating".