BEIRUT: The Mufti of Akkar called Sunday on the Army to reconsider its military campaign and the use of airstrikes in its battle against Tripoli's jihadists, while pleading with extremists to stop attacking the Army.
“Who is pushing the Army toward a military solution against militants, even though it threatens the lives of soldiers and civilians?,” asked Sheikh Zeid Zakaria in a statement. “We refuse the targeting of the state and its security agencies and Army, but we also refuse the targeting of civilians and mosques, and we find no justification for the use of the air force and airstrikes killing innocent people.”
In light of the heavy clashes in the northern city of Tripoli between Army troops and jihadists, Zakaria called for ending the fighting and finding an alternative solution.
“We condemn the calls for defection from the Army but we call on the state and the wise to treat the roots of the problem and eliminate its causes, rather than being occupied with what’s apparent,” he said.
At least 16 people were killed in running battles between Lebanese troops and ISIS-inspired militants in Tripoli, north Lebanon. The clashes started Friday night with an attack on a Lebanese Army unit, and escalated to a full military campaign to rid the northern city of jihadists plotting attacks in the country.
Two civilians, six soldiers and at least eight militants were killed and 20 people were wounded, including 10 soldiers, during the clashes in Tripoli and other areas of north Lebanon.
Zakaria also said that residents of the north were suffering from deprivation and discrimination.
“Why is there an insistence on continuing the random arrests and a rejection of implementing justice, which all increase the frustration and tension among the youth?,” Zakaria added.
Separately, the founder of the salafist movement in Tripoli, Sheikh Dai al-Islam al-Shahhal, threatened to attack the military in a recorded message addressed to Army leader Gen. Jean Kahwagi posted on social media Saturday.
The sheikh said the Army is a tool being used by Hezbollah against the Sunnis of Lebanon, and called on Sunni soldiers to defect.
“Don’t you kill a Sunni believer,” he told them, warning they would face punishment in the afterlife if they fight against jihadists.
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