Palestinians Refuse Assir's Call To Join Battle in Sidon

Haytham Mouzahem (Syria Pulse)

Jun 24, 2013

Lebanese army soldiers arrest supporters of hardline Sunni cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Assir in Abra near Sidon, southern Lebanon, June 24, 2013. Lebanese soldiers stormed a complex holding gunmen loyal to a radical Islamist cleric in the city of Sidon on Monday and arrested dozens of his supporters, security sources said, in a second day of clashes fuelled by neighbouring Syria's civil war. REUTERS/Ali Hashisho (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTX10ZBT — Lebanese army soldiers arrest supporters of hard-line Sunni cleric Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir in Abra near Sidon, southern Lebanon, June 24, 2013. — REUTERS/Ali Hashisho

Today, there is an attempt to involve the Palestinian factions in the sectarian political conflict in Lebanon. On June 23, Salafi cleric Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir urged all Sunnis in the country, including the Palestinians, to assist his group in their battle against the Lebanese army and Shiite Hezbollah.

The representative of the Palestinian Islamic movement Hamas in Beirut, Ali Baraka, told Al-Monitor in a phone interview on June 23 that his movement and other Palestinian factions have nothing to do with the clashes between the Lebanese army and Assir's group in Abra, a suburb of Sidon in southern Lebanon.