Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya announced its rally two days after a group of Islamists burned Hezbollah aid packages intended for Syrian refugees in the city’s Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp. (Photo: Marwan Tahtah)
On June 9, al-Jamaa Islamiya is set to hold a rally at the municipal stadium in the southern Lebanese city of Saida. The Muslim Brotherhood-aligned group has teamed up with local Salafi cleric Ahmad al-Assir for the occasion to express their “solidarity with the Syrian revolution” and “rejection of Hezbollah’s intervention in the fighting in Syria.”
The two parties’ anti-Hezbollah rally would come two weeks after they prevented one of Hezbollah’s fallen fighters from being buried in Syrub, a Sunni cemetery in Saida, the fighter’s hometown.
These types of action, which have demonstrated al-Jamaa’s overt hostility to Hezbollah, “will take the entire city into a war that may divide it into two trenches,” according to local sources.
Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya announced its rally two days after a group of Islamists burned Hezbollah aid packages intended for Syrian refugees in the city’s Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp. Hezbollah had distributed the aid in question in coordination with members from the Ansar Allah group.
ortly afterwards, a statement signed by “The Sunni Commandos of Ain al-Hilweh” claimed that it had expelled the Hezbollah delegation from the camp. The “commandos” urged their brethren in other camps to “follow suit and prevent Hezbollah from entering the camps,” and concluded their statement by declaring “forewarned is forearmed.”
The popular committees in Ain al-Hilweh, which represent various factions of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), had asked for Hezbollah’s assistance. Hezbollah agreed to the Palestinian request and launched an aid campaign to assist the refugees and provided 2,300 food rations to the camps in Saida.
In parallel with this obstructionist policy adopted by several factions against Hezbollah, the followers of Sheikh Jamal Khattab, the leader of the Islamic Jihadi Group, continued the group’s recent campaign against Hezbollah by collecting some of the aid and setting it on fire. The group’s media office distributed photos of burning aid to journalists via email.
On Friday, Khattab dedicated his sermon to the battle of Qusayr and criticized Hezbollah’s involvement, noting that the group has “failed” in the battle.
Khattab did not respond to phone calls and refused to receive visitors inquiring about his increasingly hostile attacks against his former ally, which continues to fund some of his institutions and activities. However, sources close to Khattab explained his recent attitude as an attempt to defuse growing resentment in the camp toward Syrian refugees.
This article is an edited translation from the Arabic Edition.
The two parties’ anti-Hezbollah rally would come two weeks after they prevented one of Hezbollah’s fallen fighters from being buried in Syrub, a Sunni cemetery in Saida, the fighter’s hometown.
These types of action, which have demonstrated al-Jamaa’s overt hostility to Hezbollah, “will take the entire city into a war that may divide it into two trenches,” according to local sources.
Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya announced its rally two days after a group of Islamists burned Hezbollah aid packages intended for Syrian refugees in the city’s Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp. Hezbollah had distributed the aid in question in coordination with members from the Ansar Allah group.
ortly afterwards, a statement signed by “The Sunni Commandos of Ain al-Hilweh” claimed that it had expelled the Hezbollah delegation from the camp. The “commandos” urged their brethren in other camps to “follow suit and prevent Hezbollah from entering the camps,” and concluded their statement by declaring “forewarned is forearmed.”
The popular committees in Ain al-Hilweh, which represent various factions of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), had asked for Hezbollah’s assistance. Hezbollah agreed to the Palestinian request and launched an aid campaign to assist the refugees and provided 2,300 food rations to the camps in Saida.
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On Friday, Khattab dedicated his sermon to the battle of Qusayr and criticized Hezbollah’s involvement, noting that the group has “failed” in the battle.
Khattab did not respond to phone calls and refused to receive visitors inquiring about his increasingly hostile attacks against his former ally, which continues to fund some of his institutions and activities. However, sources close to Khattab explained his recent attitude as an attempt to defuse growing resentment in the camp toward Syrian refugees.
This article is an edited translation from the Arabic Edition.