| Local Editor | ||||
Around 15 Lebanese soldiers, including three officers, were killed in continuing clashes with Ahmad Al-Assir’s armed partisans in Abra, east of Sidon, who dared to launch a “cold-blooded” attack against the army on Sunday. The fighting, which the Army said was reminiscent of events preceding Lebanon’s 1975-90 Civil War, wounded another 38 soldiers. The sea route in Sidon, the entry point to the south, was experiencing light traffic amid the spread of the army. Sidon, yesterday, suddenly turned into a battlefield after Assir militants attacked a Lebanese Army barrier in Abra. Security sources said the military post, not far from the Bilal bin Rabah Mosque where Assir preaches, was struck by rocket-propelled grenades. The sources said Assir’s partisans were relying heavily on RPGs in the clashes. One armored personnel carrier was set ablaze after receiving a direct RPG hit, they said. The fast-pacing events in Sidon sparked a series of protests in several parts of the country, some supporting Assir, others the Army.  Very violent battles erupted at Ain al-Hilweh camp today where tanks are being used.On Monday, the Lebanese army crossed the concrete barriers surrounding Bilal bin Rabah mosque in an attempt to arrest Al-Assir. The army had earlier evacuated population of the buildings surrounding the mosque where they were trapped since yesterday afternoon. In a statement earlier in the day, the Army said three of its members, including two officers, were killed in an attack on a checkpoint in the Abra-Sidon area. “Without any reason, an armed group belonging to Sheikh Ahmad Assir attacked an Army checkpoint in Abra-Sidon, killing two officers and a private; and wounding several others in addition to destroying several military vehicles,” the statement said.  The army said it would respond with an iron fist to any further aggression against it, calling on officials in Sidon to express unambiguously their position over the dangerous events “either to stand next to the Lebanese Army to protect civilians or to stand beside the provokers of strife and killers of soldiers.”“The Army will not remain silent to what it has suffered militarily and politically and will continue its mission to crack down on strife in Sidon and other parts and strike with an iron fist whoever thinks of shedding the blood of the Army and respond to all those who protect them politically and at the media level,” it said. In a video posted on Youtube Sunday, Assir urged members of the military to desert and called upon all his partisans to erupt and support him by blocking roads. “We are being attacked by the Lebanese Army, which is Iranian and Shiite,” Assir said. President Michel Sleiman called in all ministers and security chiefs for a meeting at the Baabda palace on Monday. Sleiman also declared that the Army has full liberty to counter the aggressors and stop the perpetrators to maintain calm, saying that calls for soldiers to desert and to “wage a jihad” against the military only served “Lebanon’s enemies” and would go on deaf ears of the Lebanese, Palestinians and soldiers. | ||||
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Lebanese Salafis kill 10 soldiers in Sidon
Lebanese security forces are deployed during clashes on 23 June 2013 in the village of Abra, on the outskirts of the southern Lebanese city of Sidon. (Photo: AFP - Mahmoud Zayyat)
Updated 01:00 am: Armed supporters of Salafi Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir killed 10 Lebanese soldiers and injured 35 near the southern town of Sidon on Sunday, the army said.
"An armed group loyal to Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir attacked, for no reason, a Lebanese army checkpoint in the village of Abra" just east of Sidon, it said.
The army identified the first six victims as First Lieutenant Samer Geryes Tanyous, Lieutenant George Elian Bou Saab, Sergeant Ali Adnan al-Masri, and soldiers Rami Ali Baker, Bilal Ali Saleh and Elie Nicolas Rahme.
It added that one gunmen was killed and 15 injured.
The fighting erupted when Assir supporters surrounded an army checkpoint in Abra, where a vehicle transporting other supporters of the radical cleric had been stopped, a security source told AFP.
"After the armed men attacked with gunfire," the army fired back, the source added.
The army vowed it "will not tolerate" the latest developments, and that it "will continue to fulfill its mandate to suppress strife."
The military will "strike back with an iron fist anyone who... spills the blood of the army," the statement said.
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Amjad al-Assir, the sheikh's brother, was defiant when reached by telephone.
"The army is with Hezbollah. We're being bombarded from all sides," he told AFP as explosions were heard in the background.
"Sheikh Assir will stay on the battlefield along with those who support him. We will resist to the last drop of blood."
According to the Lebanese National News Agency, fighting was still raging on late Sunday evening, as residents of the Abra neighborhood called on the army and the Internal Security Forces to be evacuated from the area.
In Beirut, Assir supporters blocked a road in the Verdun and Tarik al-Jdide neighborhoods to protest the Sidon clashes, Naharnet reported.
Future TV said that several religious scholars from the north of the country were mediating talks with the army to reach a ceasefire.
(Al-Akhbar, AFP)
"An armed group loyal to Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir attacked, for no reason, a Lebanese army checkpoint in the village of Abra" just east of Sidon, it said.
The army identified the first six victims as First Lieutenant Samer Geryes Tanyous, Lieutenant George Elian Bou Saab, Sergeant Ali Adnan al-Masri, and soldiers Rami Ali Baker, Bilal Ali Saleh and Elie Nicolas Rahme.
It added that one gunmen was killed and 15 injured.
The fighting erupted when Assir supporters surrounded an army checkpoint in Abra, where a vehicle transporting other supporters of the radical cleric had been stopped, a security source told AFP.
"After the armed men attacked with gunfire," the army fired back, the source added.
The army vowed it "will not tolerate" the latest developments, and that it "will continue to fulfill its mandate to suppress strife."
The military will "strike back with an iron fist anyone who... spills the blood of the army," the statement said.
Amjad al-Assir, the sheikh's brother, was defiant when reached by telephone."The army is with Hezbollah. We're being bombarded from all sides," he told AFP as explosions were heard in the background.
"Sheikh Assir will stay on the battlefield along with those who support him. We will resist to the last drop of blood."
According to the Lebanese National News Agency, fighting was still raging on late Sunday evening, as residents of the Abra neighborhood called on the army and the Internal Security Forces to be evacuated from the area.
In Beirut, Assir supporters blocked a road in the Verdun and Tarik al-Jdide neighborhoods to protest the Sidon clashes, Naharnet reported.
Future TV said that several religious scholars from the north of the country were mediating talks with the army to reach a ceasefire.
(Al-Akhbar, AFP)
الإثنين، 24 حزيران، 2013
أوقات الشام
قالت مصادر سياسية في بيروت لوكالة "أنباء آسيا" أن امير قطر اتصل مباشرة بمرجعيات سياسية لبنانية تنتمي الى فريق ١٤ اذار والى فريق الوسط طالبا فيها منهم التحرك للضغط على الجيش اللبناني لمنعه من اعتقال الشيخ أحمد الاسير ولمنع الحسم ضد المسلحين في المربع الامني في عبرا.
وأوعز امير قطر الى اصدقائه في بيروت من كبار السياسيين بشن حملة تمنع الكيل بمكيالين بحسب زعم امير قطر، فالحسم ضد أحمد الأسير يجب ان يسلكه حسم سلاح "حزب الله".
وتكشف المصادر السياسية بشكل واضح عن وقوف قطر خلف تحركات احمد الاسير الذي يأتمر بأوامر الفنان المعتزل فضل شاكر وليس العكس.
وتكشف المصادر السياسية بشكل واضح عن وقوف قطر خلف تحركات احمد الاسير الذي يأتمر بأوامر الفنان المعتزل فضل شاكر وليس العكس.
وكالة أنباء أسيا