Radical Salafists kill 15 Lebanese soldiers in port city of Sidon

Salafist militants have killed at least 15 Lebanese soldiers in persisting clashes in the southern city of Sidon between the supporters of the radical group and Lebanon’s army.

Fighting between the two sides continued into Monday morning as Lebanese security forces attempted to encircle supporters of radical Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Assir after they waged a deadly attack against a Lebanese army checkpoint in the port city on Sunday.

The armed clashes have also left dozens of people injured.

According to witness accounts cited in local media reports, machine gun and rocket fire shook Sidon, about 40 kilometers (28 miles) south of Beirut, generating panic among residents.

The Lebanese army, meanwhile, blamed the deadly violence on the militants loyal to the hard-line cleric, who has fervently supported the foreign-backed Takfiri militants in Syria while expressing outrage over Hezbollah’s supportive role on the side of the Syrian government.

Latest clashes reportedly broke out Sunday following the arrest of one of Assir’s followers by the Lebanese police at a checkpoint.

Other followers of the Salafist cleric then retaliated by waging an armed attack against security forces while urging their supporters across Lebanon to take to the streets.

Unconfirmed reports further estimated that up to 40 more Lebanese soldiers have been wounded during the clashes.

“The army was attacked in cold blood in an attempt to light the fuse in Sidon,” said a statement by the Lebanese army.

Another cleric in Sidon, Imam Maher Hamoud, has insisted that Assir had earlier vowed retaliation over the Syrian army’s recent victory in the strategic town of Qusayr, near the Lebanese border. The Syrian army was backed by Lebanon’s resistance movement Hezbollah.

Following Sunday’s violence in the port city, 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 Bilal bin Rabah mosque.

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

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

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