Army Arrests Palestinian in Sidon, Raids House of Pro-Asir Cleric
The army on Tuesday carried out raids and arrests in the southern city of Sidon, as part of a crackdown that started in the wake of deadly clashes with Islamist gunmen in the nothern regions of Tripoli and Minieh.
"Army intelligence agents raided the house of Sheikh Othman H. -- who is a supporter of fugitive cleric Ahmed al-Asir -- in the Siroub area in Sidon's eastern suburbs,” state-run National News Agency reported.
The agents searched the house's garden after “obtaining information about the presence of arms and ammunition that might be buried in the ground there,” NNA added.
“They did not find anything,” the agency said.
Meanwhile, the army carried out patrols and scoured the Sharhabil bin Hasna area, where it “checked the IDs of a number of Syrians who live there,” NNA reported.
The army later expanded its raids in the Siroub area “in search for a number of individuals suspected of belonging to terrorist groups,” according to the agency.
In the afternoon, NNA said troops arrested “the Palestinian Mahmoud Dahshan and Mohammed F. during raids in the Old City of Sidon.”
Dahshan was released later in the day.
MTV meanwhile said the army was “continuing its raids in Sidon and interrogating pro-Asir detainees, who have started making important confessions.”
“It has been established that there is full coordination between Ahmed al-Asir's group and foreign parties over Sidon's security,” MTV said.
The army had on Monday raided an arms depot belonging to supporters of al-Asir in the Old City of Sidon.
The developments come in the wake of deadly weekend battles between the army and Islamist gunmen in several districts of Tripoli and the nearby northern region of Minieh, which resulted in the death of 11 troops, 5 civilians and several militants.
The Sidon suburb of Abra had in June 2013 witnessed bloody battles between the army and gunmen loyal to al-Asir, in which dozens of people were killed and scores others wounded.
Y.R.
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