REPORT: Cautious calm prevails in Tripoli after widespread protests

          
Cautious calm prevailed in the city of Tripoli after partisans of Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir held several sit-ins across the Lebanese territories, starting with its north in Tripoli, down to Abra, South Lebanon; the location of the battles that had taken place between the hardline Sunni cleric and the Lebanese Armed Forces.  

In this context, the LAF heavily deployed on Friday in Tripoli's Talaat al-Rifaiya as gunfire was heard in several regions in protest of the incidents that had taken place in the city of Sidon.         

In this regard, the LAF reopened the international road across the Palma resort in Tripoli where protesters broke a Lebanese Army memorial, expressing their support to Sheikh Assir.             

Tariq Jdideh:          

Several residents of the Tariq Jdideh area also heeded the call of the Tahrir party and held protests to denounce what they view as the “aggression against Sidon”. 

They chanted slogans in solidarity with Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir and raised supportive banners.          

Saadnayel:           

As for the Bekaa, and specifically in Saadnayel, the Tahrir party also held sit-ins following the Friday prayers where dozens took part and chanted slogans supporting the Sunni Salafist cleric and the Syrian revolution.          

Mufti Sousan:           

The rallies soon escalated to tension on the backdrop of the sermon delivered by Sidon's Mufti Sheikh Salim Sousan whom demonstrators described as "too passive". Protestors chanted pro-Assir slogans, with reports stating that gunshots were being fired at the direction of LAF troops in Sidon's Abra.        

Sousan had rejected the calls to defection from the Lebanese army, noting that the Sunnite sect is an essential component of the national Lebanese identity.      

He also called for a transparent investigation into the video depicting LAF troops beating an arrested man in Sidon.         

He then slammed what he described was oppression carried out against the city, holding the Lebanese state responsible for ensuring the rights of Sidon's residents, or "otherwise bear the protest of the people."       


LAF:          

This as the Lebanese Armed Forces continued on Friday field searching operations for weapons in warehouses near the Bilal bin Rabah mosque in Sidon.           

In this context, LAF permitted Abra's residents to check in on their homes, excluding access to the four buildings near the security complex.          

Background:        

The whereabouts of Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir and former singer Fadel Shaker remain unknown. This as Assir's second wife had said that Assir's final words to her were:"See you someday in Paradise" prior to escaping to an unknown destination.            

Fighting in Sidon city began Sunday after troops arrested an al-Assir follower.            

The army says the cleric's supporters opened fire without provocation on an army checkpoint.           

Official reports said at least 17 soldiers were killed and 50 were wounded in the fighting while more than 20 of al-Assir's supporters died in the two day battle, according to a security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to talk to reporters.      

Al-Assir is a virulent critic of the powerful Shiite group Hezbollah group, which along with its allies dominates Lebanon's government. His whereabouts remain unknown.            

He supports rebels fighting to oust Syria's President Bashar Assad.         

The fighting between troops and armed supporters of al-Assir have transformed the city, which had been largely spared the violence plaguing border areas near Syria, into a combat zone.


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