Asir Appears in First Video after Abra Battle, Slams Qahwaji as 'Criminal'
Fugitive Islamist cleric Ahmed al-Asir appeared Sunday in a video that was published on his official Twitter page, his first audiovisual recording since the Abra battle.
“Lebanon is under the full hegemony of the Iranian scheme through Halesh (Hizbullah) and the AMAL Movement,” Asir says in the video.
It was not immediately clear when the audiovisual message was recorded. It comes amid unconfirmed reports claiming that the cleric was killed or captured as the Syrian army and Hizbullah retook Syria's Yabrud area from rebel hands.
The cleric described the Lebanese Army as “the first and most important tool” of Hizbullah on the Lebanese domestic scene, slamming Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji as a “criminal.”
“You are totally aware that there are death squads -- similar to the death squads of the criminal Maliki in Iraq -- inside the military institution, which are liquidating our youths, such as Khaled Hmayyed and Abou Mazen,” Asir added, addressing the army's “Sunni” officers and soldiers and urging them to defect.
Commenting on the indictments that were issued on February 28, in which Judge Riyad Abu Ghida demanded the death penalty against him and 56 other people over the Abra clashes, Asir ridiculed the charges and accused Sidon MP Bahia Hariri of suppressing the families of the Abra detainees.
In a threat to Hizbullah, Speaker Nabih Berri and their supporters, Asir added: “It will be impossible to continue to coexist with you before 'your heads are smashed' and, God willing, we will exert efforts to that end.”
In June 2013, Asir's supporters opened fire on an army checkpoint near the cleric's headquarters in the Sidon suburb of Abra. The attack and the fierce clashes that ensued left around 18 soldiers and more than 20 gunmen dead.
The gunbattles concentrated in the area of the Bilal Bin Rabah Mosque and nearby buildings in Abra.
Asir, a 45-year-old cleric who supports the overwhelmingly Sunni rebels fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad, is no where to be found along with singer turned Salafist militant Fadel Shaker.
The fugitive cleric had released several audio messages in the wake of the Abra battle.
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