Fighting Rages in Sidon: 15 Soldiers Killed, Army Vows Retaliation

The fighting, which the Army said was reminiscent of events preceding Lebanon’s 1975-90 Civil War, wounded another 38 soldiers.
 
The sea route in Sidon, the entry point to the south, was experiencing light traffic amid the spread of the army.
 
Sidon, yesterday, suddenly turned into a battlefield after Assir militants attacked a Lebanese Army barrier in Abra. Security sources said the military post, not far from the Bilal bin Rabah Mosque where Assir preaches, was struck by rocket-propelled grenades. The sources said Assir’s partisans were relying heavily on RPGs in the clashes. One armored personnel carrier was set ablaze after receiving a direct RPG hit, they said.
 
The fast-pacing events in Sidon sparked a series of protests in several parts of the country, some supporting Assir, others the Army.
 
Very violent battles erupted at Ain al-Hilweh camp today where tanks are being used.
 
On Monday, the Lebanese army crossed the concrete barriers surrounding Bilal bin Rabah mosque in an attempt to arrest Al-Assir.
 
The army had earlier evacuated population of the buildings surrounding the mosque where they were trapped since yesterday afternoon.
 
In a statement earlier in the day, the Army said three of its members, including two officers, were killed in an attack on a checkpoint in the Abra-Sidon area.
 
“Without any reason, an armed group belonging to Sheikh Ahmad Assir attacked an Army checkpoint in Abra-Sidon, killing two officers and a private; and wounding several others in addition to destroying several military vehicles,” the statement said.
 
The army said it would respond with an iron fist to any further aggression against it, calling on officials in Sidon to express unambiguously their position over the dangerous events “either to stand next to the Lebanese Army to protect civilians or to stand beside the provokers of strife and killers of soldiers.”
 
“The Army will not remain silent to what it has suffered militarily and politically and will continue its mission to crack down on strife in Sidon and other parts and strike with an iron fist whoever thinks of shedding the blood of the Army and respond to all those who protect them politically and at the media level,” it said.
 
In a video posted on Youtube Sunday, Assir urged members of the military to desert and called upon all his partisans to erupt and support him by blocking roads. “We are being attacked by the Lebanese Army, which is Iranian and Shiite,” Assir said.
 
President Michel Sleiman called in all ministers and security chiefs for a meeting at the Baabda palace on Monday.
 
Sleiman also declared that the Army has full liberty to counter the aggressors and stop the perpetrators to maintain calm, saying that calls for soldiers to desert and to “wage a jihad” against the military only served “Lebanon’s enemies” and would go on deaf ears of the Lebanese, Palestinians and soldiers.