Lebanese Army restores order in Sidon area where six soldiers killed by terrorist Assir’s thugs

The Lebanese Army says it has regained control of an area surrounding a mosque in the southern city of Sidon where Salafist militants have killed six of its soldiers.

The army said in a statement issued late on Sunday that it restored order in the area following clashes with gunmen loyal to Salafist Sheikh Ahmed al-Assir.

“An armed group loyal to Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir attacked, for no reason, a Lebanese Army checkpoint in the village of Abra” on the outskirts of Sidon on Sunday, the statement said.

The statement added that six soldiers, including two officers, were killed by the militants.

According to a Lebanese security official, six soldiers were killed and 19 wounded, and at least two gunmen were shot dead and 13 others were injured by the army.

The Lebanese Army condemned the killings, saying it was the target of a “cold blooded” attack.

“What happened today in Sidon went beyond all expectations. The Army was attacked cold-bloodedly and with the intent of setting off the explosion in Sidon as in 1975 [the beginning of Lebanon’s Civil War] with the purpose of plunging Lebanon into the cycle of violence,” the army statement said.

The statement also called on political and religious leaders in Sidon to make clear whether they support the army or “the killers of soldiers.”

“The leadership of the Army refuses duplicitous language and points out that the religious, spiritual leaders and lawmakers of Sidon are invited today to express in complete frankness their stance: either to stand next the Lebanese Army to protect civilians… and prevent [an explosion] or to stand beside the provokers of strife and killers of soldiers,” it said in the statement.

A sheikh in the city, Imam Maher Hamoud said Assir had vowed retaliation following the Syrian Army’s victory in Qusayr backed by Lebanon’s resistance movement Hezbollah.

Following the violence, Lebanese President Michel Sleiman called in all ministers and security chiefs for a meeting on Monday.

Sleiman also declared that the Army has full liberty to counter the aggressors and stop the perpetrators to maintain calm.

The military checkpoint where the attack took place is located on the main road to Abra, near the Bilal bin Rabah.

On June 18, clashes initiated by the Salafists in Sidon left at least one civilian dead, and many others wounded.

On Wednesday, Lebanese security sources said two rockets fired from the Syrian territory hit a Hezbollah stronghold in eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa region.

Foreign-backed militants fighting in Syria have been blamed for a number of rocket attacks along the Lebanese border.

Although Lebanon’s government has officially adopted a position of neutrality over the situation in neighboring Syria, Salafists who support extremists in Syria continue to attack people across the border.