Syria’s Nusra Front warns Lebanese against supporting Hezbollah

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Lebanese Sunni gunmen hold their weapons and a Lebanese flag during the funeral procession of Sgt. Ali Sayid, who was beheaded by Islamic militants, in his home town of Fnaydek, in Akkar north Lebanon, on Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2014. Sgt. Ali Sayid went missing around the same time that some two dozen soldiers and police were seized by militants from Syria who overran the border town of Arsal for several days last month. The incursion was the most serious spillover yet of the Syrian civil war and escalated tensions in Lebanon, which is bitterly split over the conflict. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Lebanese Sunni gunmen hold their weapons and a Lebanese flag during the funeral procession of Sgt. Ali Sayid, who was beheaded by Islamic militants, in his home town of Fnaydek, in Akkar north Lebanon, on Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2014. Sgt. Ali Sayid went missing around the same time that some two dozen soldiers and police were seized by militants from Syria who overran the border town of Arsal for several days last month. The incursion was the most serious spillover yet of the Syrian civil war and escalated tensions in Lebanon, which is bitterly split over the conflict. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Al Qaeda’s Syrian branch, the Nusra Front, told Lebanon’s Sunni Muslims they must support its cause or “pay the price” and said the coming period would be decisive for anyone who stood with the Lebanese army.

The statements were made in a video which purported to show several Lebanese soldiers the Islamist militants captured during an incursion into a border town last month. It was not immediately possible to verify the video.

Lebanon has become increasingly embroiled in the civil war ravaging its larger neighbor, where the Lebanese Shi’ite group Hezbollah as well as some Lebanese Sunnis have gone to fight on opposing sides of a war that has killed over 170,000 people.

Rocket attacks, car bombs and gun battles linked to Syria’s conflict have killed hundreds in Lebanon over the past three and half years, and last month Islamist militants including Nusra fighters overran the border town of Arsal for several days.

The militants took a number of security force members hostage during the incursion, and more than 20 are still in their hands. The militants, who also include members of the al Qaeda offshoot Islamic State, are demanding a prisoner swap.

On Friday, the Nusra Front released a nearly half-hour long video showing several of the prisoners denouncing Hezbollah for supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a member of the minority Alawite sect.

Addressing “the Sunni people in Lebanon,” a narrator in the video said: “You are of us, and we are of you. Support your people in Syria and be their assistance. Be aware, before you pay the price of being involved in a war alongside the Lebanese army against your brothers, the mujahideen.”

“Or you shall pay the price just as the Sunni people in Syria did before you through the domination of the Nasiriyah (Alawites) and Rafidah (Shi’ites),” it said, using derogatory Arabic terms for the two sects.

The video also warned Shi’ites and “all sects of Lebanon” against supporting Hezbollah.

It called on Muslim clerics to make clear how Sunnis should view the army because “the coming stage will be decisive, with God’s permission, for all those who belong to or stand with these criminals.”

The soldiers who were kidnapped include Sunnis, Shi’ites and Christians – Lebanon’s three biggest sects.

Families of captive soldiers have been blocking roads across Lebanon in protest at the the pace of negotiations, which have so far failed to secure the release of their relatives.

 

HP/Reuters

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10 responses to “Syria’s Nusra Front warns Lebanese against supporting Hezbollah”

  1. The real lebanese Avatar
    The real lebanese

    “they must support its cause or “pay the price” ”

    Islamic rule wasn’t the cause.

  2. I am a Sunni Muslim and will fight against Nusra Front. Your threats don’t scare me! I will unite with others from different religions to fight you idoits!

    1. Agreed
      Terrorists have no religion . These people are not Muslims . They are using Islam but far from being devoted Muslim people. No one will follow a religion that calls for beheading others .

      At the same time Hezbollah has no business being in Syria. Time for Hezbollah to be Lebanese and stop implementing Iran’s agenda in the Arab and Muslim world .Hezbollah’s presence in Syria does not serve the interest of the Shiites of Lebanon.

      1. 5thDrawer Avatar

        But they admit they serve El Supremo … only. Some Shiites think they are Lebanese.
        It’s now a conundrum for them, as it is with the Sunnis who don’t want Nusra/ISIS.
        People really have to get a grip on what they want to be.
        Lebanese … or dead. (back the Army OF the country)

    2. nagy_michael2 Avatar
      nagy_michael2

      Bless you Mary and I wish many lebanese speak all in one language not for one group or another. If Nusra have problems with Hezbollah then be like men and face them. stop taking it against Lebanese or else most of Lebanon will rise against you. We are not scared of you and will not run away from a fight. so this is not Iraq or syria and will behead you if needed be.. I am tired of Hezbollah, Nusra, ISIS , ASSAD, ISrael and Iran. I wish they all leave us in peace.

    3. $89733098 Avatar

      Will u unite with Hezbollah?

      1. Anti ISIS Avatar

        The time will come when every real lebanese person will have no choice but to unite with only group who can stop these animals. This is a question you should be asking yourself.

    4. 5thDrawer Avatar

      Listen to Geagea.

  3. 5thDrawer Avatar

    One hates to think there are ANY Lebanese who would support ‘the Nusra Front’ and it’s head-chopping ways. Hezzys might be an internal ongoing problem, for sure, but here’s some idiots who want to control your every breath – just like ISIS.

  4. Reasonableman Avatar
    Reasonableman

    What they say is true, what they threaten is lies

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