Lebanese troops killed in clashes with Sunni radicals

Yahoo News:

Updated June 24, 2013, 11:11 pm

Lebanese soldiers killed in clashes with Sunni radicalsAFP © Lebanese soldiers killed in clashes with Sunni radicals

SIDON, Lebanon (AFP) – Sixteen soldiers have been killed in clashes with supporters of a radical Sunni cleric in southern Lebanon, the army said Monday, in violence tied to rising sectarian tensions fanned by the Syria conflict.

The fighting began on Sunday on the outskirts of the city of Sidon and intensified on Monday, residents and local media said.

The security cabinet, including Lebanon’s army chief, pledged the military would fight until it “finishes with” Salafist Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir.

A military judge issued a warrant for the controversial cleric’s arrest, a judicial source said.

The violence is among the worst in Lebanon since the start of the Syrian conflict, which has inflamed sectarian tensions in the country, particularly between Shiite supporters of the Damascus regime and Sunni backers of the uprising.

[…]

“Sheikh Assir will stay in the mosque until the last drop of blood.”

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5 Replies to “Lebanese troops killed in clashes with Sunni radicals”

  1. Car bombs kill 39 in Baghdad as violence rages (NBC, June 24, 2013)
    nbcnews.to/12lizfm
    “Ten car-bomb explosions killed at least 39 people across the Iraqi capital on Monday, police and medical sources said. In the central district of Karada, 2 parked car bombs went off killing at least eight people, and another two car bombs exploded simultaneously near a market in the western district of Jihad, killing eight. Violence has been increasing in Iraq in recent months, with more than 1,000 people killed in May alone…”

    For second time in 12 hours, suspicious object detonated at Indianapolis federal facility (NBC, June 24, 2013)
    nbcnews.to/11C1MJD
    “A woman was in custody Monday after police detonated a suspicious object at a federal building in Indianapolis, only hours after they blew up a suspicious package at a second federal building nearby, authorities told NBC News. The Minton-Capehart building in downtown Indianapolis houses offices of the IRS, the Department of Homeland Security, the Drug Enforcement Agency and other federal agencies had been evacuated early Monday afternoon after an object registered a possible hit for explosives as it was being scanned through security X-rays about 2 p.m. (3 p.m. ET), authorities said. The object was spotted in a woman’s bag as it passed through a security X-ray, authorities told NBC News…”

  2. Senator Rand Paul

    Empowering Islamic extremists to achieve questionable short-term goals does not serve America’s long-term security or interests. Nor does it serve the interests of nearly 2 million Christians in Syria who fear they could suffer the same fate as Iraqi Christians who were abused and expelled from that country as radical Islamic forces gained influence and power.

    These Christians are natural allies of the United States, and if we’re going to seriously discuss any American interests in Syria, the welfare of these Christians is more important than arming Islamic extremists.

    History’s primary lesson is that we must learn from the past.

    http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/29/opinion/rand-paul-syria/index.html