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Arsal mayor slams Hezbollah for besieging his town

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ali Hujairi arsal mayor

Arsal mayor Ali al Hujairi told al Jumhouriah newspaper that “the security situation in Arsal remains tense because Hezbollah militants have besieged the town and have set up checkpoints on all roads and intersections leading to the town to intimidate the citizens by inspecting all the incoming and outgoing vehicles

He added: “They are forcing people out of their cars, demanding to see their ID’s and insisting on knowing their final destinations without showing any respect for the law of the land nor to the citizens of the this country.

However mayor Hujairi stressed that “all of these actions will not scare the Arsali people , because they are so accustomed to ruthless behavior of the Hezbollah party people.”

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10 responses to “Arsal mayor slams Hezbollah for besieging his town”

  1. cook2half Avatar
    cook2half

    “What’s that? sorry we don’t speak farsi in Arsal”

  2. cook2half Avatar
    cook2half

    “What’s that? sorry we don’t speak farsi in Arsal”

  3. Reasonableman Avatar
    Reasonableman

    Target practise.

  4. nagy_michael2 Avatar
    nagy_michael2

    And does Hezbollah really cares whether we have government or not? i can’t believe the Army is allowing them to do so..i would shoot at Hezbollah if i was there just to show them that they can’t have their ways..

  5. 5thDrawer Avatar
    5thDrawer

    It’s the Russian Olympic Method. Heavies on ‘security’ = fear.

  6. Guest Avatar
    Guest

    It feels like an occupation by Iran. Hezbollah has stabbed us in the back both in Lebanon and Syria.

  7. dateam Avatar
    dateam

    Fundamentalist groups have been flooding the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh for the last month, according to a security report acquired by The Daily Star.

    Chechen, Egyptian, Tunisian and Syrian members have joined the Ziad Jarrah Brigades, which is part of the Abdallah Azzam Brigades, and Jund al-Sham, the report said, adding that the groups were stationed in the camp’s Tawareq neighborhood.

    The report said the Lebanese security forces had received information that these groups entered the country through the border town of Arsal and with the help of a Palestinian official identified as Mahmoud Mohammad S., who is believed to be the top coordinator of activities for such fundamentalist groups.

    The document also named three men whose movements security officials are following: Ahmad Riyad G., Khatib M. and Jomaa M., all of whom it said were assisting Mahmoud S.

    These three men, according to the report, were planning terrorist attacks targeting diplomatic, military and security institutions in coordination with cells from Jund al-Sham and Fatah al-Islam. The attacks were alleged to be orchestrated through a Palestinian man called Bilal B., who is believed to be one of the most dangerous officials in Ain al-Hilweh’s Jund al-Sham movement. Palestinian Toufic Taha, known as Abu Mohammad, from Fatah al-Islam is believed to be his assistant.

    The Security Forces are following up on information they received concerning potential attacks against the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, the report said.

    According to sources, an unnamed Arab intelligence department told a Lebanese security body that Palestinian Hashem Mahmoud Sh. last week received financial aid from an Al-Qaeda terrorist group, money that was meant to revive dormant cells loyal to the group and form other bodies that could stage attacks in Beirut, the Bekaa Valley and Tripoli.

    The well-informed sources told The Daily Star that the deteriorating situation in Ain al-Hilweh had reached a new peak, with regional, local and sectarian circumstances further encouraging terrorist groups there to act.

    According to the sources, security officials have received warnings from foreign bodies about the possibility of confrontations between the Army and fundamentalist groups in the camp. Omar al-Atrash’s revelations have further impressed upon national Security Forces that the permeation of fundamentalist groups inside the camp is no longer tolerable.

    Atrash confessed to delivering explosive-rigged cars and belts as well as men who could potentially serve as suicide bombers to Naim Abbas, who is believed to be hiding in Ain al-Hilweh. Abbas was initially a member of the Islamic Jihad movement and now lives in the Hittin neighborhood. He rarely makes his presence known but regularly holds meetings with Taha. Both are wanted for targeting the Army and UNIFIL as well as launching rockets at Israel.

    Fadel Shaker, the singer turned militant, is believed to have lived for recently in the Taamir district. No one has seen him since Ramadan.

    The sources added that the situation in Sidon was deteriorating to the extent that religious and political parties in the city had held meetings to discuss steps that should be taken.

    Palestinian factions inside the camp have also been exerting their utmost efforts to keep the security situation under control, the sources said, pointing out that Fatah’s top official for Lebanon Azzam al-Ahmad would be visiting the country soon.

  8. dateam Avatar
    dateam

    Armed men killed three Lebanese soldiers near the Syria border overnight, an official said Tuesday, in the deadliest such attack since the start of the Syrian revolt more than two years ago.

    Three Lebanese soldiers were killed overnight by a group of gunmen near the Syrian border, the army said on Tuesday, in the deadliest such attack since the start of the Syrian uprising.

    “Around 3:30 a.m., an army position in the Wadi Hmayyed-Arsal was attacked by an armed group in a black Jeep,” an army statement said.

    “The soldiers at the checkpoint faced off against the attackers, clashes ensued and three soldiers were killed,” it added.

    “Searches are continuing in the area for the armed men who escaped into the neighboring field,” the statement said.

    A security source earlier told AFP the attack had taken place east of Arsal, a town in northeastern Lebanon where most residents support the Syrian uprising.

    Lebanon’s state news agency identified the victims as Ali M., Mohammad Sh.D., and Mustafa H.

    NOW’s correspondent in the Beqaa reported that the assailants fled to Syria following the attack near the border.

    Meanwhile, a source told LBC television that the attackers “beat up the Lebanese Armed Forces victims and seized their weapons before shooting them in the head.”

    Arsal’s municipality chief Ali al-Houjairy spoke out on the security incident, denying that the attackers came from his town.

    “The car from which the attackers opened fire was a Hummer… Arsal residents chased it before it managed to escape.”

    Following the attack, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati contacted LAF Commander General Jean Qahwaji to follow up on the circumstances of the incident.

  9. dateam Avatar
    dateam

    Since the beginning of the Syrian conflict nearly three years ago, Lebanon’s Arsal, a lone enclave in the eastern Bekaa Valley for Sunnis sympathetic to the Syrian uprising, has served as a crucial logistical support network in the struggle against the Assad regime. Located in the northeastern corner of Lebanon on the border with Syria, the town lies nearly equidistant from Hezbollah’s Bekaa Valley strongholds of Baalbek and Hermel. In spite of its isolated position, the geostrategic relevance of Arsal lies in its close proximity across the border from the contested Qalamoun mountain range. Qalamoun is an opposition stronghold in western Syria between Homs and Damascus that is currently the site of an intense battle for control of key supply lines along the M5 highway.

    Lebanese authorities have long neglected Arsal and the notoriously porous nature of the border region has made it a hub for smuggling people, weapons, and drugs across the border into Syria. The smuggling routes through the connecting mountains flow freely in both directions, as weapons and fighters flow from Arsal into Qalamoun while car bombs and refugees flow in the opposite direction. Since the start of the Syrian conflict, Arsal’s pre-war population of 40,000 has more than doubled as 60,000 Syrian refugees have fled to the town due to the nearby fighting, according to municipality figures.

    In the past year, Arsal has become the primary staging area and support zone for Sunni extremist groups projecting violence into Lebanon. Left in its current state, Arsal threatens the interests of Hezbollah, the Assad regime, and the Lebanese government. The primary, short-term interests of these three parties align, as Hezbollah and the Lebanese government are keen on shutting down the flow of weapons and explosives through the border, while the Syrian regime looks to control the strategic central supply routes that dissect the country. Therefore, each group has a vested stake in disrupting the networks that run through Arsal.

  10. Guest Avatar
    Guest

    Assad and his followers have boasted that he is greater than even God. Thus, they are eventually doomed along with Assad.

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