Lebanon Army finds tunnels in Sidon, seizes large arms cache
Iran Press TV
Wed Jun 26, 2013 2:50PM GMT
The Lebanese Army has discovered a series of tunnels in the southern city of Sidon, with a large amount of weapons and ammunition stored inside, Press TV reports.
The tunnels connect a number of buildings controlled by supporters of Takfiri cleric Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir.
This comes as the Lebanese troops are going ahead with their mop-up operation in Sidon following fierce clashes with the armed followers of Sheikh Assir.
The Army is reported to be in full control of the city. The troops have seized control of the radical cleric’s base.
The government has declared a day of national mourning to honor over a dozen soldiers killed in clashes with militants.
The Army found "dozens of bodies of armed men, wearing military fatigues with their weapons lying nearby,” according to a military source in the city.
The Lebanese troops also seized weapons, such as rocket launchers and machineguns inside the sheikh’s base as well as military uniforms.
Government troops are now searching for Sheikh Assir, who's a staunch supporter of Takfiri insurgents fighting the Syrian government. Takfiris dismiss most of Islamic sects as infidels.
More than 50 people were killed and scores of others injured in the deadly clashes in Sidon, Lebanon's third-largest city some 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Beirut.
The Army said clashes erupted on Sunday after supporters of the Takfiri cleric opened fire without provocation on an Army checkpoint in Abra, a neighborhood of the Sidon coastal city.
Lebanon’s Army has pledged to fight until it ‘finishes with’ the radical sheikh.
Assir was unknown just two years ago, but he gained prominence as the spillover into Lebanon from the conflict in neighboring Syria has escalated. The cleric is believed to have hundreds of armed supporters in Sidon involved in the fighting.
MAM/KA
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