Beirut – Georges Chahine
Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir has attacked Hezbollah during a speech to demonstrators in Sidon, Lebanon. He accused the Secretary General of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah of assassinating the Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and attempting to “dominate the country with arms.” Sheikh al-Asir also accused army intelligence of undergoing investigations which he described as \"tinged with racism\", adding: “We want to live with each other safely despite your groups’ attempts to distort the facts.”
The cleric made the speech following the march by his supporters which began at Bilal bin Rabah Mosque and ended in Morgan, on Sunday afternoon. While the march was taking place, the city of Sidon witnessed a widespread security presence along main roads and in public squares. The Interior Minister Marwan Charbel held a meeting attended by South Governor Nicolas Bou Daher and Area Commander Brigadier Tariq Abdullah to discuss stabilising the demonstration to prevent any civil unrest or disruption of Sidon’s traffic system.