Many Lebanese officials are protecting jihadists: Hezbollah MP

BEIRUT: Hezbollah MP Ali Fayyad Sunday accused many religious and political officials of collaborating with and protecting extremist militants working in Lebanon.

“There is a whole structure manifested in different forms and locations that exceeds the takfiri groups affiliated with ISIS and the Nusra [Front,]” Fayyad said in an Ashoura ceremony in south Lebanon. “There are rather many religious and political figures that have gone too far in coordinating with, cooperating with and protecting takfiri groups.”

“These figures play as much of a dangerous role as that of the takfiri groups that actually implement the terrorist attacks.”

Fayyad backed his accusations by citing the Army’s recent discoveries of arms warehouses and explosive devices, as well as the dangerous plans that the detainees confessed to have been working toward.

The most dangerous role that these figures are playing, according to Fayyad, is by using sectarian balance to justify or cover the jihadist activities.

“By that, they are pushing everyone into a corner, especially the state and its security forces, and pushes us to face complications that will have negative repercussions on the whole situation in Lebanon,” Fayyad added.

In an implied reference to officials affiliated with the Future Movement, and to Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi more specifically, Fayyad said that the officials he was referring to had confused the public opinion with their contradicting attitudes.

“They have become known for their collaboration with takfiri groups for the sake of cheap, delusional political interests, on the expense of security and stability,” he added.

Al-Akhbar newspaper, known for its close ties to Hezbollah, reported Saturday that Rifi’s bodyguard was detained by the Lebanese Army earlier this week for attempting to transfer $280,000 to the kidnappers of Lebanese soldiers and policemen.

The justice minister responded from his home Tripoli, where he invited journalists to see the guard, Deeb al-Laheeb, who is bedridden because of back pain that has left him incapacitated for a long time, according to Rifi.

After refuting the accusation, Rifi blasted the Army over the lack of balance in its raids on weapons warehouses. He called on the military to raid Hezbollah locations in Beirut’s southern suburbs and to not limit its raids to the mostly Sunni northern city of Tripoli, and particularly to the Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood.

Rifi also said there are many warehouses in Jabal Mohsen, the Alawite-majority neighborhood whose residents have repeatedly clashed with those of Bab al-Tabbaneh over the past three years, that were never raided.