Popular Nasserite Organization Chief Warns of Sectarian Strife in Sidon
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Popular Nasserite Organization head Osama Saad stressed on Wednesday that the security deterioration in the southern city of Sidon endangers the civil peace and aims at creating a sectarian civil war.
He expressed regret in a press conference over the security, stability and economy losses in the city, a day after clashes erupted between Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir and the Hizbullah-affiliated Resistance Brigades in the suburb of Abra.
“The attack launched by al-Asir supporters forced people to evacuate their homes,” Saad said.
The official reject attempts to involve Sidon in “sectarian sedition.”
Saad slammed “those who intervened to protect people who aim at destabilizing the situation in the city,” accusing al-Mustaqbal movement and other Islamists of participating in Tuesday's incidents.
Clashes erupted on Tuesday afternoon between supporters of Asir, the imam of Sidon's Bilal bin Rabah Mosque, and the Resistance Brigades in the Sidon neighborhood of Abra, leaving at least one person dead and four others wounded.
The Lebanese army deployed in Sidon as the violence comes amid soaring sectarian tensions in Lebanon that have escalated because of the raging war in neighboring Syria.
The army said several people were wounded by the gunfire.
Asir, who espouses an austere form of Sunni Islam, is known for his opposition to Hizbullah.
He has alleged several times that the group uses several apartments in Abra to stockpile weapons and house fighters.
According to the army, the violence broke out after a car accident in the southern city, when "armed men took to the streets in Abra and opened fire... and wounded several people."
Sectarian tensions pitting Sunnis against Shiites have soared in fragile Lebanon as the spillover from Syria's war has escalated.
Though Lebanon has officially adopted a position of neutrality in Syria's war, Hizbullah and its allies back the Damascus regime of President Bashar Assad.
19 June 2013, 13:42
22
If it is as the article says that the Salafists and Hizballah are going at one another, then the army should keep out of it. Let them kill each other then and only then should the army go in with bulldozers to clear up the garbage.
19 June 2013, 15:21
22
My concern is the returning Hezbolla Chabiha from Syria... how will they reintegrate our society? How can we walk in Beirut or elswhere and suspect the poeple we see of being unpunished mass murderers....
19 June 2013, 15:19
24
If only Marouf Saad was still alive, he'd be ashamed of his son. I guess Kamal Jumblatt would feed the same about his son.
Actually, there's something very wrong about lebanon and its dynasties of corruption, nepotism, cronyism....
Philippo, I thought you were smarter than this.... let a situation get out of control is no strategy. We need to empower our army and let it be the strongest defender of Lebanon. You obviously don't wish good things to Lebanon.... very sad indeed.
19 June 2013, 16:53
21
lebpatriot, HA put themselves in survival mode. They should have offered to merge their weapons and trained fighters with the army. They should have given up control of Sour seaport and Airport and other instituions that makes them a state within a state. 2005 would have been a great time to do this while their was a wave of secular patriotism amongst people of all religions. Instead they continued the path of strengthening themselves and weakening the army and Government to leading to where we are today. Even if I agree with your analysis that they could have finished their enemies within hours, They have not done so because their plan is more strategic and is not ripe yet. They are intent on acquiring more land so when such war happens they will already be entrenched and they can accomplish the mission with more ease and less casualties and will be able to hold the ground permanently. This is my analysis on that.
19 June 2013, 16:59
21
Saad is just a wannabe: this is why he defends hizbushaitan.
as far as what happened yesterday: the provocations of hizbushaitan are the main reason behind the clashes. do not take my word for it: all the reports are there for those who wish to read.
hizbushaitan used mortars and heavy weapons. why? to create the same situation as in Tripoli.
hizbushaitan cannot take over Lebanon militarily, and they know it: they would face a deadly resistance beyond what anyone can expect.
this is why they resort to incidents to make their point.
