Man Arrested for Shooting on Haret Saida with Hunting Rifle, Asir Denies Link
The army on Sunday arrested a man who opened fire on the Sidon predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Haret Saida, as anti-Hizbullah Islamist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir denied that the detainee is one of his supporters.
Earlier on Sunday, MTV said "army intelligence agents arrested al-Asir's supporter Hilal Zeidan for opening fire on the Haret Saida neighborhood."
State-run National News Agency later said army intelligence agents arrested "a man identified as H. Z. for opening fire with a hunting rifle on the Haret Saida area," without elaborating on his affiliation.
Al-Asir's office issued a statement clarifying that “the protests he is staging across Lebanon are popular protests that are open for everybody's participation and he cannot prevent anyone from taking part in them, and the presence of any person among the public does not turn him into a loyal and close supporter of the cleric.”
“Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir disavows such acts of violating security and inciting strife and calls on security authorities to strike anyone who performs or incites such acts with an iron fist,” the statement added.
The army has been imposing strict security measures around Asir's Bilal bin Rabah Mosque in the Sidon suburb of Abra, after the Islamist cleric staged several demos to protest claims that Hizbullah gunmen are residing in two apartments near the mosque.
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