Family of Defected Soldier Urge him to Return Home
The relatives of soldier Abdullah Ahmed Shehade, who reportedly defected the Lebanese army and joined the ranks of al-Nusra Front, appealed for him to return to his family and the military institution.
“The military institution is the sole guarantee for the country's security,” the family said in press conference on Saturday in from the town of Mashha in the northern district of Akkar.
The family urged the Lebanese state to allow “Shehade to return to his country as he is sick and cannot engage in battles.”
Earlier on Saturday, head of Mashha municipality Zakaria al-Zohbi stressed that the “town supports the army,” denying that terrorist organizations are taking it as a safe haven.
“The defection of Shehade is an individual decision... He is the son of a family that loves the military institution,” al-Zohbi said in a statement, expressing surprise over the news.
The municipal chief also negated “rumors and lies that said the army raided the town and clashed with its residents.”
Media reports said on Friday night that Shahade, who hails from the town of Mashha, defected and joined the ranks of al-Nusra Front hours after the group published a video in which soldier Mohammed Antar announced that he had "joined the jihadists."
Shehade is a member of the Fifth Intervention Regiment.
Antar, who is from the Rafik Hariri International Airport's guard platoon, said in his video that “he defected to the extremist group to defend the Sunni community and in protest at Hizbullah's practices.”
The first time a Lebanese soldier defected to the Nusra Front in neighboring Syria was in July.
Corporal Atef Mohammed Saadeddine claimed in a video that his move came as a result of the injustice against Sunnis in Lebanon.
Islamists in the country claim that Sunnis are facing harassment by the army, which they accuse of working under the command of Hizbullah.
The Shiite party has sent thousands of fighters to Syria to help the regime of President Bashar Assad against the rebels fighting his troops.
Hizbullah members have engaged in bloody gunbattles with al-Nusra Front, the Islamic State group and other Syrian opposition fighters in Syria and the border region with Lebanon.
The jihadist groups took several Lebanese soldiers and policemen hostage in August and executed three of them.
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