Asir Returns from Qusayr, Says Had 'the Honor of Firing on the Criminals'
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Controversial Islamist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir on Wednesday returned to Lebanon after crossing into the war-torn Syrian area of Qusayr to “support the real heroes” of the armed Syrian opposition.
“My visit to Qusayr's countryside was in support of the true heroes and to coordinate with them and examine the situation,” Asir said on the social networking website Twitter.
“But I refused to return before gaining the honor of firing on the criminals,” he added.
On Monday, Asir called on “everyone who has said that the rebels in Qusayr don't need more fighters to go visit them and confirm that with them directly … and let everyone stop the overbidding in this regard.”
“My visit to Qusayr's countryside increased my certainty and insistence on the religious stance I have voiced in support of our people in Syria in general and in Qusayr in particular,” Asir said on Wednesday.
Syria's main rebel Free Syrian Army has rejected calls for jihad (holy war) by Lebanese Islamist clerics, saying "what we are missing in Syria is weapons, not men."
Asir's official Facebook page published pictures and a video showing the Islamist cleric carrying a machinegun alongside the rebels and opening fire from the rooftop of a building.
On Tuesday, Hizbullah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah declared that his party "will not hesitate" to help the Lebanese residents of Qusayr in their confrontation with Syrian rebels.
"30,000 Lebanese Muslims and Christians were targeted, torched and prevented from going to work" at the hands of Syrian rebels in Qusayr, Nasrallah said.
The opposition-affiliated Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has said elite fighters from Hizbullah are leading the fight against rebels in Qusayr.
Syrian regime forces have recently recaptured a string of strategic villages in the region, which is along the border with Lebanon.
That raised fears among rebels that the town of Qusayr itself, a stronghold of the uprising, could fall into government hands.
The area is of key strategic importance because it runs along the border with Lebanon and is near the route running from Damascus to the coast.
Hizbullah says that its members who are fighting in Homs province are Shiite residents of Syrian border towns engaged in self-defense against rebel forces.
Fighting in the area has spilled over into Lebanon, with rebels targeting border towns inside Lebanon in response to Hizbullah involvement in the conflict.
01 May 2013, 18:23
35
Why didn't he just stay there....
he can't say that he is against HA's involvement and goes in there and fight himself--he is also being a hypocrite
01 May 2013, 18:24
46
@banima3roof, Asir may have risked his life and certainly he is free to risk his life by parachuting from an airplane without a parachute or going on Safari in Africa without a weapon or protection but he has absolutely no right whatsoever to engage in an non-commissioned and non-sanctioned act of war in a foreign country no matter what his reasons are. The same goes for the terrorist thugs HA, Jam3a, Ikhwen, Nusra and all like fanatics getting paid to shed blood they have no business whatsoever shedding. What becomes of us when we start rationalizing and sympathizing with terrorists? Guess what, we become no different than them and I know without a doubt you are not one of them ya banima3roof!
02 May 2013, 15:27
01
Faudrait déjà que ton petit rigolo pense à enlever le cran de sûreté. Décidément, il nous aura bien fait rire celui-là ces deux dernières années. Lool
01 May 2013, 18:46
24
In war, rarely do the moderates have a real voice. If moderates had the same ambition for power these liars have, there would b wars.
The moderate voice is only heard after the extremist is tired of fighting. And given the fact that no one will win in Syria, they will soon tire and give in to moderates. Nshallah.
01 May 2013, 18:59
56
hahah i love how antagonistic this an is towards nasrallah, hahah bravo BRAVO
01 May 2013, 23:37
01
Both should keep their noses and that of Lebanon out of the mess in Syria. We have enough problems without these two egomaniacs pushing Lebanon to the brink.
01 May 2013, 20:04
56
Oh my God what more proof do we need that partition is the answer.
01 May 2013, 20:13
18
He's following Nosrallah's path. In 5 years he'll have his political faction with terrible ministers as well.
Lebanon is going thru its darkest times....
01 May 2013, 22:10
24
asir is just a consequence of the presence of hezbollah in lebanon... those who criticize asir and defend hezbis are just stupid hypocrits... by defending hezbis they should have known that a day or another a party of this kind will be formed to counter balance the influence of hezbis, it is just a matter of logic and maths!
so FPMers who criticize asir just make me laugh at their stupidity... they are defending the "islamic" resistance and criticize another "islamic" party !! double standards to suit their hypocrisy and propaganda ....LOL
asir is just to be rejected as hezbis should be too!
02 May 2013, 14:00
11
poor FT i only see one retarded and desperate FPMer whose sole arguments now are to insult others....
you and your party are failures... and your idiotic brain cannot see that asir and nasrallah are TWO islamists... brave little soldier sheep.... i pity your ignorance.
01 May 2013, 23:15
11
Your readers give too many comments to this thug. Worse you turn around and publish it. Your respected newspaper however demotes itself and respect of educated readers when it publishes comments coming from mentally sick readers.
02 May 2013, 01:16
20
Sorry @banima3roof but in this instance we do not see things the same way. In my view Assir displayed no courage in going to Qusayr and posing for those self serving photo ops. We do not need his brand of Islam or philosophy in Lebanon any more than we need HA brand or philosophy. They faces of the same coin that, if allowed to grow and foster, will lead us Lebanese into total destructn of our country.
I can/will not buy into allowing Sunni extremist to flourish in opposition to Shiite extremism. We are struggling hard to rid ourselves of HA's extremism and don't need Assir's violent philosophy on top of it.
02 May 2013, 13:31
00
What Sunni extremism are you talking about ? Did you actually hear Assir's speech ? He even called upon Christians, Druze and Free Shia to join in helping the Syrians http://youtu.be/BlhJ5IXm6PE
Standing up to Hezbolla/Shia extremism is what both Sunnis and Christians in Lebanon must do, now is the time to take a firm stance. Who knows when Iran would give the order for HA to start killing Lebanese inside Lebanon...
As Syrians said 2 years ago, and Lebanese should now, "Death is better than humiliation"
02 May 2013, 02:26
30
“My visit to Qusayr's countryside increased my certainty and insistence on the religious stance I have voiced in support of our people in Syria.............
Based on that statement ("our people" to him means Salafists and not Lebanese) he shold be stripped of his Lebanese citizenship and awarded a Salafi citizenship in its place. Then kicked out of the Republic of Lebanon and deport him to the Republic of Ummah Salafeyat. Same with Nsrallah, ecept he shol be deported to Welayat Elfaqih.
02 May 2013, 11:02
22
He's more heroic than the coward Nasrallah sending others to do his dirty work . Bravo Asir ! We salute you (and I'm christian btw).
02 May 2013, 16:34
00
ROBERTSON: What is the danger to world peace? We are engaged in a war on terror and yet the Syrians are in the United Nations Security Council how can that be?
AOUN: It's a big contradiction that we have to solve in the world. Because people, the terrorist regimes, they are still, you know, having good stature in the world. And there are terrorist regimes like Syria that are generating terrorist organizations. Therefore, I propose a plan that first, to disarm the organizations; second, to democratize the regimes; and then to help them to develop their country.
from the 2002 interview
02 May 2013, 11:52
11
Assir... one Nasrallah is bad enough we don;t need another one. This photo shoot and PR move did not impress anyone.
