Hizbullah Taking Extraordinary Security Measures during Ashura and Nasrallah Urges Supporters' Cooperation
Hizbullah will begin on Monday holding daily mourning councils on the occasion of Ashura, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper.
It said that the party has taken extraordinary security measures at the councils given information it obtained that they could be the target of attacks.
The Army Command also announced that its units have started taking similar measures at various mourning councils throughout Lebanon.
The security measures also encompass places of worship, tourist sites, and shopping malls and they include the setting up of mobile and stationary checkpoints.
Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah called on his supporters on Monday evening to cooperate with the measures adopted by the army.
"I urge you to cooperate and bear with these measures as their implementation insures marking these days without any mistakes, losses or obstacles," he said in a televised speech he gave on the first day of Ashura.
At least 22 people were killed and 325 wounded in a car bombing in Hizbullah's stronghold of Dahieh in Beirut's southern suburbs on August 15.
In September, Nasrallah blamed Sunni takfiris linked to the Syrian opposition for the August 15 attack.
On July 9, a booby-trapped car exploded at a parking lot in Bir al-Abed, leaving 53 people wounded and causing extensive material damage.
In May, two rockets slammed into the Beirut southern suburb of Shiyyah, wounding four people.
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