Report: Hizbullah Performs Maneuvers in Dahieh to Confront Possible Takfiri Attack
Hizbullah has taken defense measures in its stronghold of Dahieh in Beirut's southern suburbs to confront any possible takfiri attack, reported the daily An Nahar on Wednesday.
It said that the party performed a defense maneuver two or three days ago to combat such an attack in light of the discovery of a plan to carry an assault.
The maneuver entails locking stores in the area, evacuating the streets within ten minutes, and preventing any gatherings.
Party officials overseeing the maneuver also urged people to head to the higher floors of buildings during a possible takfiri attack in order to keep ground floors vacant for Hizbullah fighters in case of direct combat with takfiris, who may take to the streets ahead of any suicide attack, stated An Nahar.
In addition, it said that Hizbullah is attempting to limit the entrances to Dahieh to ten in order to properly monitor the flow of vehicles and pedestrians.
Moreover, party lawmakers have removed the blue license plates off their cars that indicate their position in parliament.
Hizbullah's measures caused major traffic on Tuesday as merchants sought to fortify their stores with sand bangs in order to confront any possible emergency.
Local schools also offered their students first aid training and put in effect an evacuation plan in case of emergency.
A group suspected of links to al-Qaida warned on Friday that all areas of Lebanon where Hizbullah operates are "legitimate targets" for attack, urging Sunnis to avoid them.
"We, al-Nusra Front in Lebanon, announce that Iran's party (Hizbullah) and all its bases and... bastions are legitimate targets for us, wherever they are," the group said in a statement posted on the Internet.
The statement came three days after the group -- which is believed to be a branch of the Syrian al-Nusra Front, an al-Qaida-linked rebel movement -- claimed responsibility for a suicide car bomb attack in the Beirut southern suburb of Haret Hreik that killed four people.
Tuesday's was the sixth in a string of attacks targeting Hizbullah strongholds in Lebanon since the Lebanese group acknowledged sending members into neighboring Syria to fight alongside President Bashar Assad's regime against rebels and jihadists.
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