Lebanon arrests hardline Sunni cleric

Lebanese authorities arrested Salafist Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri global Airport Saturday after more than two years on the run, security sources told The Daily Star.

Sheikh Ahmed al-Assir, a Lebanese citizen, was arrested at Beirut airport as he tried to depart using a forged passport, the officials said.

NNA said that the security forces are seeking to arrest as numerous cleric’s accomplices as possible before they flee in anticipation of his confessions in detention. At least 18 Lebanese soldiers, as well as 30 of his own followers, were killed in clashes in the predominantly Sunni city.

The fighting, which centred on the Abra district in the eastern outskirts of Sidon, spread quickly, wounding dozens of civilians and paralysing much of the coastal city.

Charges against him include forming a terrorist organization and inciting violence against the army.

In 2014, a military court recommended prosecutors seek death sentences for al-Assir and 53 others, including former singer Fadel Shaker.

He was wanted for his involvement in the clashes against the army in the Sidon’s Aabra area in 2013. He condemned the party’s secretary-general, Hassan Nasrallah for allying himself with the Syrian government.

He encouraged his supporters to join Syria’s Sunni rebels and to rise up against Hezbollah.

Lebanon by exacerbating sectarian tensions between its Sunni and Shi’ite communities.