The Lebanese security forces on Tuesday deployed heavily in the southern port city of Sidon following threatening pamphlets calling on Christians to leave their homes in one week.
Internal Security Forces southern commander Brig. Gen. Munzir Ayoubi visited late Monday the Maronite Catholic pastors of both Sidon and Deir al-Qamar to update them on the investigation into the distribution of hate pamphlets Friday night
Ayoubi also briefed the priests on the security deployment in and around Sidon that would include running night patrols and setting up random checkpoints.
Speaker Nabih Berri condemned the pamphlets last Sunday calling them a “desperate attempt” that would be met with failure. The incident would not affect the unity of the region’s inhabitants, he stressed
Berri added: “The residents of Sidon, East Sidon and all the villages neighboring the capital of the South will prove that national unity and the image of coexistence will not be disrupted by a leaflet written in the dark, for fishy objectives of well-known sources and aims.”
He stressed that the city of Sidon and the villages of the East Sidon area “will remain an example of Islamic-Christian coexistence.”
Lebanese Forces denounce the leaflets
The Lebanese forces in Sidon and Zahrani areas also condemned the leaflets in statement which briefly stated
1- This cowardly act under cover of darkness is paid work the memory brings back memories of the ugly days that were rejected by the Lebanese people as a whole and specifically the residents of this same region which is enjoying an unparalleled fabric of communal and cultural diversity, social and political of the highest civilized and democratic quality.
2 – The low standard of these pamphlets proves the fact that those behind them are a bunch of kids that do not belong here
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.