Syria Spillover into Lebanon Intensifies with Clashes in Sidon

[Comrade Grumpy]

Source: The Independent (UK)

The southern Lebanese city of Sidon erupted in heavy clashes as followers of a radical Sunni cleric battled gunmen believed to be sympathisers of the Shia-backed Hezbollah, in the latest outbreak of violence between factions supporting opposing sides in the Syrian conflict.

Fighting began after Amjad al-Assir, the brother of the prominent cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Assir, was attacked in his car by men throwing stones in the neighbourhood of Abra. The cleric is a vocal critic of Hezbollah in the mostly Sunni city.

One man was killed and at least six injured, according to the Red Cross. As evening fell, an uneasy ceasefire took hold and the Lebanese army moved in. It is the worst fighting the area has seen in years.

Meanwhile, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, visited Lebanon to reiterate calls for $1.7bn to assist Lebanon in dealing with the influx of Syrian refugees who had fled the fighting in their country. More than 500,000 Syrian refugees are currently registered in Lebanon. UNHCR estimates the number of registered refugees in the country will reach more than a million by the end of the year. The arrival of hundreds of thousands of refugees in Syria’s neighbouring countries further fuel fears that the conflict is spilling over across its borders.



Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/syria-spillover-into-lebanon-intensifies-with-clashes-in-sidon-8664117.html

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Lebanon is like a mini-Syria, only it already had one round of sectarian civil, from 1975 to 1990. Looks like round two is coming. There have been an increasing number of clashes like this around the country, especially since Hezbollah went openly for Assad.

[lob1]

1. Please, please, please, let's keep out of this mess.

[John2]

2. Do these people

identify themselves as Syrians or Sunnis? You can't tell me every Sunni Syrian in the country has fled Syria. You can't tell me the Syrian Army is slaughtering every Sunni in Syria either.

What the Army needs to do,is position on the borders and close it down. The Lebanonese Army can do that in collaboration with Hezbullah, and the Syrian Army on their side of the Border. Iraq's Army can do the same. Then they should deal with these people coming from Libya,Egypt,Saudi Arabia,Iraq, Turkey,Qatar,Jordan, and Tunisia.

The problem with these countries is religious extremism. It is not extremism from Shias, but Sunnis. I'm not saying all Sunnis are extremists, but it a group within that sect, can't tolerate Shiites, or any other religion. It has nothing to do with their nationality, or allegiance to any country. It has more to do with their allegiance to a religion.

I've also noticed many of these people are young men, influenced by radical clerics calling for Jihad. The moderate clerics need to denounce these radical clerics calling for violence. I think Governments also need to deal with them. If some radical priest in the United States called for the overthrow of our Government in the name of their religion, I would expect that person to be prosecuted.

That is the problem the World and the U.N. needs to be dealing with and not some countries encouraging it just for their advantage. I guess I'm agreeing with Putin. I don't think we should support these extremists at all.

[bemildred]

3. Yep, it's really, really dumb.

A year ago, Assad was on the way out. Now, thanks to those fundamentalists, the head loppers and cannibals, he is winning. They have managed to make him look good again. It's not just that these salafi types are mean, they lose wars, they are incompetent, and nobody wants them actually running things.

However, they may all just get sucked in there and be conveniently wiped out. I'm sure Pooty-Poot will help Assad out so he has all the weapons he needs to do that job, which would have some interesting consequences too.

[cynzke]

5. We are helping Putin.

We are buying helicopters from a Russian government owned arms dealer to use in Afghanistan. This arms dealer is supplying Assad with the same types of helicopters, plus heavy arms, missiles and other weaponry. We are financing the people aiding Assad. How stupid is that?

[bemildred]

6. Yep. This Syrian fandango is just littered with that kind of ambiguity.

It cuts across the usual alliances and emphasizes new ones. Some problems, when you try to fix them, you just make them bigger.

It's like we just can't say no, we are never allowed to cut our losses while they are still reasonable, there is no mess we don't think we can fix, even though all the evidence says we are not very good at fixing messes.

[cynzke]

4. And now.....

Turkey announced they may have to use the army against the protesters...their own citizens. Turkey is an ally, what do we do now?

We have to stay out of the middle east. These clashes have been ongoing for centuries and to think we can stop them is ludicrous.