Report: Two Tripoli Fighters Killed in Qusayr, Contact Lost with 20 Others
Two men were killed and contact was lost with at least 18 others in the Syrian town of al-Qusayr near the border with Lebanon, LBCI television reported on Thursday.
"The men who hail from the northern cities of Tripoli and Dinniyeh have left Lebanon to participate in the battles in al-Qusayr's countryside”, sources close to the Syrian opposition told LBCI.
After the news of the men's death broke out, convoys carrying al-Nusra Front flags roamed in the north, firing shots into the air in Tripoli's al-Qubba neighborhood.
LBCI added: “The two killed man were identified as Hussam Mansour and Hani Barakat."
The same source noted that most of these fighters have ties with fundamentalist and Salafist groups, particularly with cleric Sheikh Salem al-Rafehi.
In response to Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah admitting that party members are fighting alongside the Syrian regime's forces in Syria, Salafist Sunni sheikhs called on men from the country to join Syrian rebels.
Al-Rafehi of Tripoli announced in April that he has decided to “send men and weapons in support of our Sunni brothers in Qusayr.”
He called on "all Sunni men to be fully prepared ahead of sending the first batch (of fighters) to perform the jihadist duty in Qusayr.”
Meanwhile, Islamist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir, the imam of Sidon's Bilal bin Rabah Mosque, announced the creation of the “Free Resistance Brigades,” urging whoever is capable of heading to Syria to go there to aid “the oppressed” in Qusayr and Homs.
Asir called on “all the Lebanese who fear attacks by Iran's party (Hizbullah) in Lebanon to arm themselves and form 5-member secret cells in order to be ready to exclusively defend themselves and their families should the need arise.”
He also called for fundraising in order to finance jihadist fighters seeking to enter Syria “to support our people.”
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