Gunmen Roam Streets of Tripoli to Intimidate Residents
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Gunmen have been roaming the streets of the northern city of Tripoli on Monday morning in a show of support to Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir, reported the National News Agency.
The gunmen on motorcycles have been firing gunshots into the air in order to intimidate the people and force them to close their stores.
Youths also briefly blocked the Abdul Hamid Karami Square in a show of support to al-Asir, whose supporters have been waging clashes with the army since Sunday in the southern city of Sidon, reported MTV.
The Sidon clashes spilled over other Lebanese regions on Sunday, as roads were blocked in the North, Bekaa and Beirut.
An army base was hit with an RPG at the Abu Ali roundabout in Tripoli Sunday, but no casualties were reported, LBCI television said.
The military command said the number of troops killed in the Sidon fighting rose to 12. There were also more than 50 injuries among the ranks of the soldiers, but it was not clear how many fighters were killed in the unrest.
The clashes erupted when al-Asir's supporters surrounded an army checkpoint in the area, where a vehicle transporting other supporters of the cleric had been stopped.
After the armed men attacked the troops with gunfire, the army fired back.
24 June 2013, 12:32
13
What the army did in Saida, it is time to do in Tripoli. We must take back Tripoli from these people and bring it back to Lebanon.
24 June 2013, 12:32
31
Is it not the pacifist Christians and allies who colonized and split up the Muslims while exterminating natives, how very civilized of them.
24 June 2013, 12:37
24
There were Christians in the Middle East long before any Muslim scum stepped out of the Arabian desert. They're the true invaders and foreigners.
24 June 2013, 13:11
31
eee you are a bigot and a fool. Christians in the middle east also stepped out of the arabian desert just like jesus and the jews before him. there is no foreigners and invaders just people with different views and by the view your view is not very charitable or christian!
24 June 2013, 13:06
24
Probably because they are poor with little access to education and feel betrayed. That's why people like Assir find followers. Nothing to do with their religion.
24 June 2013, 13:07
01
Guys honestly this country is on the verge of collapse and all you can think about is this ignorant topic of muslim & christian and who did what to whom.Why cant I for once be able to plan a trip to Lebanon for the summer without having to worry about stupid people with guns terrorising all of us who just want to visit our friends and family and have a good time. Is that so hard to ask for? Im sick and tired of this country whose people keep on voting for the sane idiots, our so called leaders who have brought nothing but disasters, over and over again. But lets not talk about that, lets talk about how thousands of years ago some muslim and christian killed one another, this is a topic which seems to be sooooo important for us, the Lebanese sheep.
24 June 2013, 13:14
10
who ever is moderating these comments should ensure that idiotic and stupid comments such as the eee guest one above, do not get posted as it only reflects bad on Naharnet as an online news site.
24 June 2013, 13:17
12
loveandpeace I'm not even a Christian, I'm an atheist and a realist with an education in history. Christianity came from the Levant. Islam came from the uncivilized Bedouin tribes in the Arabian desert (look at a map they are two different places). And don't give me any of that hippy peace crap. You preach tolerance and love to those who would behead you in the name of their god. Respect is given where it is earned, and if you give them respect they will climb on your back and have it their way and if you protest they will cry that you are not being tolerant enough (or kill you for your heresy in the name of Allah). I am the fool? The fool is the one that gives amnesty to people like Assir and his poisonous religion.
24 June 2013, 14:01
00
Plus I think it's time to change my Assir pic showing him dead or something
