Al-Assir to Lebanese Army Soldiers: We’ll Slaughter You

Tension prevailed the session of Parliament’s National Defense Committee Thursday after the Future MPs and their March 14 allies tried to accuse the Army of inititing the battle against Ahmad al-Assir on Sunday 23rd of June.

However, the LA representatives turned the table by presenting recordings al-Assir abuses against the military institution.
According to the recordings al-Assir personally issued the orders to his supporters to tear apart the LA soldiers after they refused his “orders” to remove their post.

In details, the he LA presented to lawmakers footage incriminating Ahmad al-Assir as investigative Military Judge Fadi Sawan questioned one of his supporters accused of transferring arms to Syria.
The fresh developments in the case coincided with reports that the Army had obtained footage of al-Assir ordering the attack against the soldiers stationed near his security perimeter.
One of the videos shown by the Army during the closed session included footage from within al-Assir’s security perimeter around the Bilal bin Rabah Mosque, and a video taken by Assir’s brother.
Some of the footage showed al-Assir ordering the removal of the Army checkpoint and launching the attack against the Army, according to al-Jadeed.

For its part, al-Akhbar daily mentioned that another recording showed al-Assir’s militants asking their Sheikh on the supposed answers to the media.
His answer was: “Tell them that the army initiated the assault on us and we are defending ourselves.”
The daily also revealed that the LA displayed another recording that goes back to days before the Abra incident.
The video shows al-Assir at one of the LA checkpoints insulting the LA soldiers by saying: “You animals, we will slaughter you.”
However, the elements of the army didn’t respond at that time, showing a maximum level of self-restraint.

Following the committee meeting, caretaker Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn, who attended the session, said the military was the only side fighting against al-Assir’s gunmen, adding that soldiers “did what they had to do and spared the lives of innocent civilians.”
“According to all the Lebanese and international media, there was not a single injury for any civilian in the operation, and this proves the Army’s professionalism and confidence,” Ghosn said.

Ghosn responded angrily to the suggestion that the Defense Ministry and the Army were being “questioned” over the events in Abra.
“I refuse the word ‘questioning,’ the LA does not get questioned, it is carrying out its duties with all professionalism and discipline,” he said.
As for the footage the Army presented during the parliamentary meeting, the defense minister explained that the military “gave away all the proofs and evidence that it carried out a professional and skilled security operation.”
“We did what we had to do and gave away all the necessary evidence,” Ghosn said.

In parallel, he reiterated that Hizbullah did not help the LA in its battle against al-Assir.
“There was no participation by any element other than the LA,” he said.

Meanwhile, Loyalty to Resistance Bloc MP Ali Ammar, for his part, lashed out at the March 14 lawmakers for “attempting to undermine the LA rather than support it and protect it.”

“By now we are all aware of the source of funding for all the attacks against the Army,” he told reporters. “We will not tolerate the campaign on the LA and we will safeguard it.”

The recommendations by the National Defense Parliamentary Committee regarding the Abra incident have yet to be announced. The committee will meet again next Thursday.