Ahmad al assir biography of martin johnson

With his increasing involvement in regional politics, especially after the Syrian Civil War , he has become a notorious personality in Lebanon's political landscape, and frequently agitated against Iran and Hezbollah [ 7 ].

A fundamentalist Islamist group led by Ahmed Al Assir and the Lebanese army was an experience they could access more easily than the war despite having.

After being a wanted fugitive for years, Al-Assir was detained on 15 August by Lebanese General Security officials while attempting to flee [ 8 ] to Egypt using a forged passport in Beirut International Airport. On 28 September , Al-Assir was sentenced to death. Al-Assir is from a mixed background - his mother is a Shia from the south of Lebanon, and his father is a Sunni from Sidon.

He has two wives and three children. According to one of his sisters, he was once a supporter of Hezbollah, [ 14 ] but withdrew his support when Hezbollah and the Lebanese Shiite withdrew their focus from Israel and begun to exert excessive force on the delicate sectarian balance of Lebanon. Assir's notoriety increased after a series of sermons and public exhibitions criticizing Hezbollah, a once untouchable symbol in the Lebanese political landscape.

He also caused controversy by openly criticizing figures within the militia such as secretary general and spokesperson Sayed Hassan Nasrallah. In August , Al-Assir and his supporters staged a sit in in the southern city of Sidon to protest against Hezbollah's weaponry. On 8 August, a gunfight between supporters and rivals of Assir wounded five, including two women.

On 11 November , three people were killed and four others wounded after supporters of Assir clashed with supporters of Hezbollah in the southern city of Sidon. In April , Assir urged his Syrian followers to join the Syrian rebels by claiming that "There is now no other choice but to defend our Sunni people in Syria," and assuring that "There is a religious duty on every Muslim who is able to do so In June , clashes broke out in an eastern suburb of Sidon after several people attacked, threw stones and shattered windows in a car belonging to Assir's brother, Amjad al-Assir.

Assir then gave Hezbollah a one-week ultimatum to vacate apartments occupied by the group's supporters in the mostly Sunni city containing heavy weapon in a civilian compound, as clashes broke out with gunmen wielding automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. Officials stated that the gunmen fighting Assir's followers were believed to be Hezbollah sympathizers.

On 23 June , according to news channels loyal to Hezbollah, 10 Lebanese Army soldiers were killed and 35 wounded in a clash with armed men loyal to Assir, in Sidon at an Army post near the Abra complex that houses the Bilal bin Rabah Mosque.