BEIRUT Lebanese troops battled heavily armed followers of a hard-line al-Qaeda linked cleric holed up in a mosque complex in a southern port city on Monday, the second day of fighting that has left at least 16 soldiers dead, the military said.
The clashes in Sidon, Lebanon’s third-largest city, are the latest bout of violence in Lebanon linked to the conflict in neighboring Syria.
They are the bloodiest yet involving the army and are seen as a test for the state in containing extremist armed groups that have taken up the cause of the warring sides in Syria. The civil war next door has been bleeding into Lebanon, following similar sectarian lines of Sunni and Shia camps.
The fierce fight that the militants were putting up showed how aggressive extremists have grown in Lebanon, building on anger not only at Syria’s regime but also its allies in Lebanon, Hezbollah. The two days of fighting have transformed Sidon, which had been largely spared the violence plaguing border areas near Syria, into a combat zone.
The 45-year-old, bespectacled and long-bearded al-Assir is a virulent critic of Hezbollah. He has been agitating for months, demanding Hezbollah disarm and accusing the army of inaction in the face of the group’s growing involvement in Syria on the side of President Bashar Assad.
The maverick cleric was little known until few years ago and his growing following was a symptom of the deep frustration among a section of population who resent the Hezbollahs ascendancy to power in Lebanon. Hezbollah and its allies dominate Lebanon’s government.
The clashes in predominantly Sunni Sidon, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Beirut, left 50 wounded on Monday, the National News Agency said. At least two military officers were among those killed. Hospital officials said at least three of al-Assir’s supporters died in the fighting.
Machine-gun fire and rocket-propelled grenade explosions caused panic among residents, who also reported power and water outages.
The city streets appeared largely deserted Monday. Local media reported many residents were asking for evacuation from the heavily populated neighborhood around the Bilal bin Rabbah Mosque where al-Assir preaches, and where the fighting has been concentrated.
The military in a statement said the gunmen were using the religious compound to fire on its troops and had taken civilians as shields. The clashes erupted Sunday in the city after troops arrested an al-Assir follower. The army says supporters of the cleric opened fire without provocation on an army checkpoint.
The local municipality said that the city is “a war zone,” appealing for a cease-fire to evacuate the civilians and wounded in the area.
Many people living on upper floors moved downstairs for cover or fled to safer areas. Some were seen carrying children as they fled. Others remained locked in their homes or shops, fearing getting caught in the crossfire. Gray smoke billowed over parts of the city.
The military appealed to the gunmen to hand themselves in, vowing it will “continue to uproot the strife and will not stop its operations until security is totally restored.”
Hezbollah appeared to be staying largely out of the ongoing clashes.
Last week, al-Assir supporters fought with pro-Hezbollah gunmen, leaving two killed.
Hezbollah issued a statement condemning “the crimes committed by al-Assir and his gang” and declared its solidarity with the military institution, calling on all Lebanese to rally around the national army.
Early Monday, al-Assir on his Twitter account appealed to his supporters in other parts of Lebanon to rise to his help, threatening to widen the scale of clashes.
The tweets did not give a clear statement on how the battle began. It came after a series of incidents pitting the cleric’s followers against other groups in the town, including Hezbollah supporters and the army.
The cleric is believed to have hundreds of armed supporters in Sidon involved in the fighting. Dozens of al-Assir’s gunmen also partially shut down the main highway linking south Lebanon with Beirut. On Monday, they opened fire in other parts of the city, with local media reporting gunshots in the city’s market.
Tension also spread to the north in Tripoli, Lebanon’s second largest city. Masked gunmen roamed the city center, firing in the air and forcing shops and businesses to shut down. There was no unusual military or security deployment.
Walid al-Moallem, Syria’s foreign minister, blamed the violence in Lebanon on the international decision to arm rebels, saying that it will only serve to prolong the fighting in Syria and will impact neighboring Lebanon.
“What is going in Sidon is very dangerous, very dangerous,” he told reporters in Damascus. “We warned since the start that the impact of what happens in Syria on neighboring countries will be grave.”
Headlines of Lebanon’s newspapers were all dominated by the violence in Sidon, with many seeing it as a test for the state to impose order. “An attempt to assassinate Sidon and the military,” read the headline of the daily al-Safir. “Al-Assir crosses the red line,” read another headline in al-Jomhouria daily. A third headline in al-Nahar read: “Yesterday war in Sidon. Today, decisiveness or settlement?” Agencies
Follow this link to join our WhatsApp group: Join Now
Be Part of Quality Journalism |
Quality journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce and despite all the hardships we still do it. Our reporters and editors are working overtime in Kashmir and beyond to cover what you care about, break big stories, and expose injustices that can change lives. Today more people are reading Kashmir Observer than ever, but only a handful are paying while advertising revenues are falling fast. |
| ACT NOW |
| MONTHLY | Rs 100 |  |
| YEARLY | Rs 1000 | |
| LIFETIME | Rs 10000 | |
