BEIRUT: A fifth column is working to destabilize Tripoli, north Lebanon Mufti Sheikh Malek al-Shaar warned Saturday, blaming recent attacks on the Lebanese Army on foreign provocateurs.
"Everything that is happening is the act of foreign individuals. The problem is not between the residents of the north and the Army or between Muslims and Christians or even Shiites and Sunnis, there is a fifth column that wants to destabilize,” Shaar told reporters after meeting Greek Orthodox Patriarch John X Yazigi at Balamand Monastery near Tripoli.
“But Tripoli and the north will remain as Lebanon’s beating heart full of love, unity and cooperation and I think that religious figures generally should act as the safety net for our national course.”
Shaar was referring to repeated attacks against the military, with the recent most one Friday's killing of a 19-year-old soldier riding a military bus on his way to work in Tripoli.
On Sept. 23, gunmen shot dead a soldier in the northern city of Tripoli. A soldier died in a bomb blast in Tripoli on Oct. 7, while another serviceman was killed in an attack in the Akkar district two days later by gunmen on a motorbike.
The attacks reflect simmering tensions following the fierce battles between Lebanese troops and ISIS and Nusra Front militants in the northeastern town of Arsal in early August. The militants are still holding hostage 27 soldiers and policemen captured during the fighting.
Speaking to reporters, Shaar, who spent nearly a year in 2013 outside Lebanon for security reasons, also said that he discussed with Yazigi the upcoming Christian-Muslim summit in cooperation with Dar al-Fatwa, the country's highest Sunni authority.
"This summit will be an opportunity to raise a unified voice about or national principles,” he said.
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