Authorities in Beirut hailed a security success on Aug. 15. The General Directorate of General Security, the body responsible for security at border crossings, facilities and ports, announced the arrest of Ahmad al-Assir, one of the most wanted men in Lebanon.
Assir had been at large since June 24, 2013, after violent clashes between his gunmen and a unit of the Lebanese army in Abra, the Sidon suburb where he lived in south Lebanon. Years before, Assir was an average Sidon citizen who in 1997 decided to become a Sunni cleric, evolving into a Salafist sheikh. That same year, he took up residence in a building in Abra that he turned into a mosque for a group of his supporters. Assir’s movement took shape over the years, until its culmination with the eruption of the Syrian crisis in March 2011. He attracted many young followers with his fiery preaching, especially against Shiite Hezbollah, Iran and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his regime.
