Ghosn Warns of Extremism, Accuses Certain Factions of Protecting Asir
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Caretaker Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn warned on Monday from the proliferation of extremists in Lebanon, accusing Lebanese political factions of playing a role in the rise of Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir.
Some “Lebanese factions protected him all this time. Had the army arrested him, they would have said that a certain party is being targeted” through this arrest, Ghosn told al-Akhbar newspaper.
Asir, a controversial Sunni cleric who gained prominence for his criticism of Hizbullah, has not been seen since a fighting last week between his armed supporters and the Lebanese army in Abra outside the southern city of Sidon.
Around 18 soldiers and more than 20 gunmen were killed in the gunbattles that began when Asir's supporters opened fire on an army checkpoint.
“The Sidon incidents wouldn't have taken place had soldiers were not been killed in a cold blood,” he said, adding “the army's reaction was natural.”
Several parties have accused the military of targeting the Sunni sect and abusing the armed men that it arrested for taking part in the fighting.
“Let them stop targeting the army and casting doubts … Or else they will regret it when it is too late,” Ghosn said. “It is the only unified institution left” in the country.
The caretaker defense minister confirmed that Hizbullah did not take part in the Abra fighting despite accusations that the party's members had opened fire on Asir's supporters.
“With due all respect to all parties, the army's decisions are independent,” Ghosn told al-Akhbar. “It does not accept to belong to a certain party nor it allows anyone to interfere in an issue that targets the country's security.”
He warned that among the biggest dangers facing the country was “the proliferation of extremism and terrorism.”
Ghosn stressed that his remarks last year about the presence of al-Qaida in Lebanon were based on information and were not an act of intimidation.
The caretaker minister created a controversy in May 2012 when he said in an interview that al-Qaida exists in Lebanon. He also warned of the return of the spate of assassinations.
01 July 2013, 08:52
127
God bless Ghosn for saying it as it is, and let the February 14 Saudi-Wahabi coalition bark as much as they want. They financed terrorism in Lebanon and they will be brought to justice for it.
God bless Lebanon, and God bless the Lebanese Army.
01 July 2013, 10:18
23
What issue ?
inno 3emlo kaffeyn la yalli kenno 3am bi2awso 3layoun ?
ma3ley ! the most "civilised" army in the world did much worse than this in Abu Ghrayeb and the american people didn't loose faith in their army! u cannot impose on someone who lost a friend in a battle to restrain himself. that's human.
Let's not get lost in insignificant details
The real issue here is how the extremists salafists got all these weapons, who protected them ? why most of the Assir gunmen were syrians ?
who is targeting the army with an awful propaganda and turning people who were with the army against it, and I mean by this M14 supporters... because this will create a strife similar to the one in Syria... w ba3deyn ma ra7 yeb2a min ykhabbir !
01 July 2013, 13:43
15
If decisions are made independantly of political influence why did they not arrest Asir a long time ago. how does a political faction protect Asir and why does army comand adhere to such influence when it is independant? I think it's time for the Army comand to start making some unpopular decision to ensure everyone understands the status quo.
01 July 2013, 13:55
13
@ obersever.. a fitting name btw. with comentary like that it is apparent you wouldn't know the big issue if it smacked you in the face. but that is just my humble opinion and i am entitled to it :). no body i have read on these threads has critisised the army for ridding us of the filth in Asir.. but some have rightly questioned why the same does not apply to all. many have noted that he is a by product of a dysfunctional state over run by chaos and fear, and that many more asir's are just around the corner. These same people have rightly identified the underlying cause of this disfunctional state and have pointed it out.. Others however too shallow to understand have critisised all and sundry for attacking the army, it appears aknowledging you have a problem is the first step to recovery. some are still in denial.
01 July 2013, 14:48
13
@forces
"with comentary like that it is apparent you wouldn't know the big issue if it smacked you in the face. but that is just my humble opinion"
This is my opinion about ur post too, but why not discussing politics opinions instead of going to the personal level ?
The army did well of ridding us of Assir ? great !
let's congratulate the army, let's celeberate it's victory, let's make it more confident to deal with other issues, and let's not break the moral of the soldiers by attacking them while the battle was still ongoing !
01 July 2013, 15:54
00
@observer your comments are well noted and i do agree with you. My post however was not personal just trying to point out that we are not addressing the real issue of the Asir saga. Prevention is better than the cure, this however does not apply in Lebanon, we are all ready to jump on the keyboards and give our opinion on one word of a whole paragraph yet we fail to think preventativly. Unless we all agree on the real causes of such asirs and address them, it is of little value asking where they got their weapons and who funded them etc as even if we stopped that particular person another is just around the corner.
01 July 2013, 16:06
11
financed terrorism in Lebanon? please clarify Karim did they ship truck loads of weapons into lebanon from iran which in turn has destabilised a country coming out of a war, hoping for a bright future ready to move forward? did they attack their neighbours which in turn were attacked by them causing countless deaths to children and defenseless civilians? property damage and trauma for many? i guess you are not interested in bringing anyone that does this to justice are you? perhaps they got up on the public arena and professed their allegence to iran and their mullas? they should be hung for treason, but that is ok too. Two wrongs don't make a right karim..
01 July 2013, 08:58
114
i bet that all the ones doing the killings hides in roumieh they made a 5*hotel section just for them these extremist zombies
01 July 2013, 09:32
39
No No Mr.Ghosn! the army couldnt target Assir because Hassan el chaytan has more amunitions than the lebanese army!! and U know what? u can lie (all of u) about the legitimacy of Hizbo but he is the root problem for us not having a viable state after Taef! U have one cancer in Lebanon its hizbalou its either him or Lebanon!! the 2 can coexist anymore!
Assir and others are the injustice result of hizbo being armed and leading us all like little children.
01 July 2013, 09:53
39
hizbushaitan is exerting tremendous pressure on judges not to go ahead with the trial of samaha.
they are hoping for a change in the balance to free this murderor.
how many more murderers will hizbushaitan protect?
01 July 2013, 10:10
93
@ geha
Still waiting for the Army executions for treason.
Still waiting for the reports of Army arrests and detentions.
Still waiting for the reports that show that the Army did anything wrong.
Where is the proof you said was coming ???
01 July 2013, 09:57
84
The extremists such as Ahmed Al Asir and his small number of supporters have been protected from criminal prosecution by the march 14 politicians. The protection of this group is solely for the purpose of having a puppet that is vocal enough against Hezbollah . March 14 were well aware of Asir's movements and intentions. They gave him blanket immunity and protection. They created a terrorist out of a peasant that was camping on the side of the road in his tent.
After the cold blooded attack on the Army which left 16 soldiers dead, we now have the same March 14 group making excuses for what this terrorist has done. They are turning the murder of 16 soldiers into a political side show. These are our soldiers that have been murdered. Let us side with the people who will make sure that everyone that is involved with Asir is held accountable. This should start with the politicians and the finical backers.
01 July 2013, 10:33
310
Dear Ali: If an army check point is installed at the entrance to Dahiyeh or Baalbeck or Masnaa and a convoy of HA warriors is passing to enter Syria along with their artillery and rocket launchers, and the army adamantly stops the convoy, and attempts to arrest this group for possessing illegal weapons... can you tell me what at that point in time would happen? Would your warriors surrender or fire at the army? If the army fires back and kills your warriors, would you be now supporting the army?
01 July 2013, 17:19
01
dagger, you are trying to use logic with folks who want nothing to do with it. I used to be M14 but I quit, I am against both M8 and M14 now because neither has the best interest of the country at heart. However I agree that there is only one party that is a mini-state within the state and acts above the law. They are of course the mercenary terrorist group HA whose presence has now spawned and brought out onto the scene the opposing terrorist mercenaries. It occurs to me both extremists Shia and Sunni Muslims are sides of the same coin and I reject them both.
01 July 2013, 10:39
38
IMO, HA does not accept or want any fanatics or extremists except itself.
01 July 2013, 11:35
82
LOL for a minute I thought you were talking about a normal country!!!
So funny that you Lebanese really act like you have a normal government, and live this great life that Hizbalallah's weapons takes away from you. I hate to give you reality, BUT, Lebanese citizens live a very low standard of life. You all have a speaker of the house (Berri) who literally took over forever, other ministers that collect salaries and live in Saudi, Crazy Leaders who attack each other every moment they can! No electricity, sometimes no water, a mountain of trash in Sidon God only knows why, 60% of your people don't have health care, nor decent medication, or if it is any good unaffordable due to the poverty level, a government who monopolizes the cell phone industry and you pay outrageous amounts to just talk on the phone. LITERALLY YOU ARE SCREWED EVERY SINGLE DAY BY YOUR GOVERNMENT! The least of your problems is Hizballah yet you people want to make it the one and only problem in Lebanon. WAKE UP!
01 July 2013, 12:15
35
whatever: we support the state even with it imperfection over the no state of hizbushaitan.
01 July 2013, 12:23
92
Speak for yourself and your Al Qaeda brethren and leave the rest of the Lebanese out of it. Nobody elected an Al Qaeda sympathizing jihadist like yourself to speak on their behalf. And please don't become angry and blow yourself up. Thanks.
01 July 2013, 12:21
44
Anna ya ekhwan ma2rit ella kelmi la karim 14 wahabi ok ya karim bas halla2 sar lezem tesall aoun eza ndam la lwahabiyi ?
01 July 2013, 17:05
01
@RFT, thank you for the good laugh...I needed it. I love sarcasm!!!
01 July 2013, 18:29
20
If very country stayed out of Syria and didn't encourage their citizens to go fight a jihad to bring democracy to the Syrian people then there would be no reason for Hezbollah to help Bashar Al Asaad. People are quick to condemn Hezbollah but forget that march 14 politicians such as Saad Harrir ,saqr saqr and the gulf states have been financing the overthrow of a neighboring government.
If it were not for Hezbollah, Lebanon would be experiencing the same occupation as Palestine with growing Israel settlements until we are asked to accept a fraction of what we once called lebanon.
Until then I suggest all you hezbollah haters go enjoy yourselves at sky bar . the days may be numbered if the salafis have their way and import their evil ideology from syria to Lebanon .
02 July 2013, 09:37
00
I will tell you what would happen, they will obey the army! It happened in 2006! They were in the middle of the war and if you remember Siniora stop'd a convoy of weapons via the army, going to the south. They could have attacked, but they would NEVER, they have an allegiance to the state, unlike your friend Al-Assir.
