Tripoli Muslim Scholars Accuse State of Protecting Gunmen in City
Salafist cleric Sheikh Salem al-Rafehi accused on Monday the Arab Democratic Party of being behind the latest round of clashes in the northern city of Tripoli.
He added after a meeting of Muslim scholars in light of the new round of unrest: “The state is protecting Ali and Rifaat Eid and allowing them to launch attacks in the city.”
Ali Eid is the head of the Arab Democratic Party and his son Rifaat is the party's politburo chief.
Moreover, Rafehi accused Hizbullah of backing the party and its actions in the city.
“Hizbullah is exploiting the state's agencies in order to protect the Jabal Mohsen gang,” he declared.
“We demand that President Michel Suleiman intervene in order to halt the unjust practices against Sunnis,” he stressed.
“The allies of the Syrian regime want to portray the residents of Tripoli as terrorists and extremists,” he continued.
“The residents targeted in the fighting are exercising their right to defend themselves after the state's lax approach in maintaining calm,” Rafehi noted.
“How is it that criminals behind lesser crimes are arrested and those behind major ones, whose identities are known, are allowed to roam free?” he wondered.
“The people consequently sense that the state is not protecting them,” he lamented.
He mad his remarks in reference to charges against Ali Eid over his links to the August 2013 twin bombings that targeted the al-Taqwa and al-Salam Sunni mosques in Tripoli.
Eid has refused to adhere to summons for questioning in the case, citing health reasons.
He is suspected of smuggling to Syria Ahmed Merhi, who is the suspected driver of the explosive-laden vehicle that blew up near al-Taqwa mosque.
Three people have been killed in the latest round of clashes between the rival Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen neighborhoods in Tripoli.
Tensions between the neighboring areas date back to Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war but have been exacerbated by the conflict across the border in Syria, which erupted in 2011.
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