Army Seizes Rifles of Guards Loyal to MP Khaled al-Daher

The army on Saturday seized weapons from a guard room at MP Khaled al-Daher's house in the northern city of Tripoli after “gunmen loyal to him” appeared on the street.

“The army confiscated four rifles from the guard room of MP Khaled al-Daher's house in the Tripoli area of al-Dam wal Farz,” state-run National News Agency reported.

The Tripoli News Network Facebook page meanwhile said the army “encircled” al-Daher's house after “gunmen loyal to him deployed under his house.”

According to TNN, the gunmen were “the guards of his house.”

The army “arrested them and confiscated their weapons,” the network added, noting that “there is a state of tension and anger among his supporters.”

The development comes amid deadly clashes between the army and Islamist gunmen in Tripoli and the nearby region of Akkar. Three troops have been killed and more than ten others wounded in the violence that started on Friday evening.

Al-Daher's name was recently mentioned in media reports that said he had been communicating with the dangerous detainee Ahmed Salim Miqati prior to the militant's arrest in a deadly army raid Thursday in the Dinniyeh town of Asoun.

Several TV networks – including al-Jadeed, MTV and al-Manar – said the interrogation of Miqati unveiled that he had been “communicating” with al-Daher via the WhatsApp mobile messaging application.

The militant sent to Daher “videos of defections of Lebanese army troops” while the MP used to send him “messages of motivation and encouragement,” al-Jadeed said.

Y.R.