Arsal civilians trapped between shells and snipers

[Originally posted at NOW]

NOW talks to Arsal residents caught in theater involving Lebanese army, Hezbollah, and militants.

As clashes rage Monday for the third day running between foreign Islamist militants and the Lebanese army – reportedly in cooperation with Hezbollah – in the remote eastern border town of Arsal, the more than 80,000-strong population, which includes over 40,000 registered Syrian refugees, is caught in a deadly trap in the middle, between the militants’ guns on the one hand and intense barrages of incoming artillery on the other.

“Armed people were everywhere,” said Khaled Hojairi, a Lebanese Arsal resident who managed to flee the town at 2pm Sunday. “I saw them shooting randomly. I had to be very careful to avoid being shot,” he told NOW.

“Yesterday, [militants] tried to target an army position close to my house,” said Abu Muhammad*, another Arsal native who spoke to NOW via telephone. “I helped the soldiers to escape by hosting them in my house for a while.” As a result, a “direct armed confrontation” ensued between the militants and local residents who took up arms to repel them.

Hours later, Abu Muhammad said his home “was [hit] by heavy weapons, the kind that only the Lebanese army and Hezbollah have […] Arsal is now being bombed randomly, all the houses are being targeted equally without differentiating between one and another.”

Along with more than a thousand other Lebanese – but not Syrians, who have reportedly been forbidden to leave – Abu Muhammad was able to flee Arsal during a temporary calm on Monday morning.

The vast majority of residents, however, were not so fortunate, and the sealing of the only road in and out of the town later Monday morning forced them to remain stuck in the middle, under fire from all sides.

“The civilians are trapped, because they can’t go in or out,” said Carol Malouf, a journalist and activist who runs a Syrian refugee camp in Wadi Hmayed, the barren, mountainous region just east of Arsal where the militants – thought to be affiliated with the Islamic State (formerly Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham) and Jabhat al-Nusra factions – triggered the battle Saturday by ambushing a Lebanese army checkpoint, killing two soldiers.

“When [civilians] try to leave, there are a lot of snipers shooting at them,” Malouf told NOW. At the same time, “there has been a lot of indiscriminate shelling. Our camp in Wadi Hmayyed was hit and several tents were on fire yesterday.” A temporary truce effected at 21:00 on Sunday enabled the transfer of most of the camp residents to Arsal town center, but Malouf says they remain in significant danger there.

“The militants have checkpoints in [Arsal] itself and at its entrance,” she told NOW. “If [civilians] stay, there is fear they will be taken as human shields by the militants.”

Conditions are even worse for the scores of injured civilians who, according to Abu Muhammad, are being treated on the floors of overwhelmed local medical facilities, unable – due to the closed road – to be taken to hospitals in the nearby Beqaa Valley.

“It’s really bad, and we really need to focus on getting the civilians out,” said Malouf.

To that end, a ceasefire was ostensibly agreed upon Monday evening, supposed to come into effect at 18:00, to enable a delegation of the Association of Muslim Scholars to enter the town and negotiate the evacuation of injured civilians, the release of Lebanese soldiers held by the gunmen, and the latter’s withdrawal from Lebanon, according to Nabil al-Halabi, a member of the delegation who spoke to NOW moments after it had been agreed. The latest official information from the Lebanese army is that 14 soldiers have been killed and 86 wounded, while 22 are unaccounted for (many presumed held by the militants).

The ceasefire had not, however, come into effect at the time of writing, and was in any case not expected to be a lasting one. More army units were seen heading into Arsal and firing artillery just minutes before the ceasefire’s appointed time, and Prime Minister Tammam Salamdeclared in a statement not long before then that there would be no “leniency, truce or political solution” with the “murderous terrorists.”

Indeed, there are signs the military’s operation could expand significantly. In what appeared to be a corroboration of multiple reports of Hezbollah’s involvement in the shelling of the town, the head of the party’s religious council, Sheikh Muhammad Yazbek, said Monday “we will not leave the army [to fight] alone,” pledging to “defend [against the militants] with all the power in our hands.”

And, shortly after a Twitter account called “Arsal News Network”reported the presence of Syrian regime MiG fighter jets above Arsal Monday afternoon, the National News Agency reported a “series” of Syrian air strikes on “positions of gunmen along the Lebanese-Syrian border.”

Such developments would in fact be consistent with an assertion by the mayor of the nearby town of Labwe last Wednesday that the Lebanese army, Hezbollah and the Syrian regime would soon commence a joint “operation” to “put an end to terrorism along the border.” If so, the political consequences of such open cooperation between the Lebanese army and these controversial, polarizing actors could be far-reaching.

“If Arsal is being bombed by the Lebanese army, this is a problem,” said Abu Muhammad.

“And if it is being bombed by Hezbollah while the Lebanese army is doing nothing about it, this is a bigger problem.”

*NB: Citing fears for his and his family’s security, the source asked to be referred to by a pseudonym.

Myra Abdallah contributed reporting.

Notorious Hizbullah checkpoint removed amid internal reshuffle

[Originally posted at NOW]

Residents of Arsal relieved to see end of checkpoint at which intimidation and even beatings were reported.

A controversial checkpoint manned by Hezbollah militiamen in the Beqaa Valley town of Labwe, at the only exit from the border town of Arsal, has been removed more than two months after it was first established.

The surprise move was greeted with relief in predominantly anti-Hezbollah Arsal, according to the town’s Deputy Mayor Ahmad Fleeti, who told NOW residents were “of course [more] relaxed now the checkpoint is gone.” Reports of abuse – including serious physical beatings – at the checkpoint were numerous, often discouraging locals and the town’s more than 50,000 Syrian refugees from leaving.

NOW was itself stopped and searched at the checkpoint in February, though without incident. “Please excuse us,” said the eldest of four gunmen after ruffling through bags and tapping the doors of the car to check for explosives.

Other journalists, however, had very different experiences. A television crew from the Lebanese MTV news channel reported its members had been intimidated and threatened at the checkpoint in February. “If you stop the car one more time, you will cease to exist,” one of the gunmen allegedly told them, adding that one of their photographers’ names was “on our list now.”

And, as NOW first reported in February, five humanitarian NGO workers were once reportedly detained for six hours at the checkpoint, during which time some were beaten and left with “serious injuries.” The NGO subsequently ceased its activities in Arsal.

But perhaps most notorious were the reports of assaults of wounded people leaving Arsal in need of urgent medical care. In what local doctors said was not an isolated case, a Syrian youth with a bullet wound in his leg was allegedly beaten while comatose in an ambulance by Hezbollah’s gunmen at the checkpoint in March.

The official reason for the removal of the checkpoint over the weekend is the implementation of the Lebanese authorities’ new plan to bolster national security. “There will no longer be any unofficial checkpoints or armed forces along the roads in the region of Baalbek-Hermel,” said Interior Minister Nuhad al-Mashnouq Saturday, declaring that the measures taken against gunmen in Tripoli in recent days would be replicated in the Beqaa. Perhaps by way of reassuring supporters in the area – which has for weeks been targeted by both car bombings and Syrian rebel rocket fire, resulting in over a dozen civilian deaths – Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said in an interview published Monday that the risk of car bombings has significantly decreased since the defeat of rebel forces in the adjacent Syrian Qalamoun region.

Yet the move also comes at a time when Hezbollah is said to be trying to tackle a breakdown in its once-renowned internal discipline. Recent reports claim senior Iranian military officials are assisting the party in restructuring its security apparatus, following damaging leaks to Israeli intelligence and “missteps in dealing with the sensitive security situation in Lebanon.” If the latter was part of the reason Hezbollah agreed to dismantle its Labwe checkpoint, this would be consistent with the precedent of its previous checkpoints in Beirut’s southern suburbs, abandoned in September 2013 following the killing by party gunmen of a Palestinian refugee at an entrance to the Burj al-Barajneh camp.

Phillip Smyth, a researcher at the University of Maryland specializing in Hezbollah, says it’s unsurprising that discipline is slipping when the posting of more experienced fighters to a brutal and costly war in Syria has left more junior forces manning the party’s checkpoints.

“On the ground, the fact that [Hezbollah’s] forces are heavily committed to the front, there have been bombings, and that this is a very polarizing conflict – particularly internally” mean that “issues like the black shirts causing problems are bound to happen,” Smyth told NOW.

Accordingly, with no end to the Syrian war in sight, Arsal’s more than 80,000 inhabitants are hoping the checkpoints don’t return, says Fleeti. Similarly, they’re concerned that state security forces might not necessarily make for much of an improvement. Fleeti points to the example of the Syrian woman and child shot dead by soldiers last weekend when their driver failed to stop at an Arsal checkpoint.

“These officers, who are representative of the Lebanese army and the state, should calm down before they start shooting at people, refugees, who don’t have their papers and are avoiding checkpoints,” Fleeti told NOW. “The rumors that are coming out on media say the people getting stopped are all [Jabhat al-]Nusra, and then it ends up being they just didn’t have their papers. So the refugees are afraid to go by the checkpoints, so they’re trying to circumvent them and then they get shot at.”

Maya Gebeily contributed reporting.

Assir's media return buoys supporters, frightens others

[Originally posted at NOW]

ABRA, Lebanon – A first-time visitor to the Bilal bin Rabah mosque complex today in Abra, east of Sidon, might never guess there were several days of intense rocket and machine gun clashes here just over seven months ago, killing 18 Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) soldiers and around 40 gunmen loyal to the mosque’s imam, Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir.

The once-devastated apartment block housing the mosque, which had entire wall panels blown out when NOW saw it after the June 2013 fighting, has now been immaculately repaired and restored, a “For Rent” banner hanging from one balcony indicating that it is inhabitable once again. Long gone, of course, are the young men standing guard outside with AK-47s hanging by their sides. (Those who weren’t killed or arrested have, like Assir himself, gone into hiding.) Gone too are the heavy-duty barriers installed by the sheikh on the side-streets leading up to the mosque complex, as well as a protective metal roof constructed above the mosque’s entrance. Some new shops have opened up in the adjacent small square; others have closed down. The whole block has the eerie air of the scene of an historic and infamous crime, mopped up and painted over but still evidently raw in the memories of those who witnessed it.

Thus when NOW asked local residents Friday about their thoughts on Assir’s recent reappearance in the media, many who still supported him would only say so in lowered voices. “Inshallah (God willing) he’ll return,” murmured one adolescent worker in a bakery before returning to the oven. Others would reveal their sympathies only in roundabout or implicit ways. A few, however, remained as outspoken as ever – seeing perhaps that NOW were journalists, the driver of one passing car raised his fist out the window and shouted, “Sheikh al-Assir, God protect you!”

For such people, the reemergence of the sheikh on social media networks has evidently been a great boon. Having not used his Twitter account since August 2013, Assir surprised followers with a new message on 14 January, and has since posted over 25 times. The messages generally address current events in Lebanon and Syria, peppered with Qur’anic citations and the derogatory references to “Safavids” (Shiites and/or Persians) and “Hizb al-Lat” (a pun on “Hezbollah” implying idolatry) that are the hallmark of hardline Sunni Islamism. On Syria, he sarcastically says the siege of the Yarmouk camp is the “true picture of the support of Iran and [Hezbollah] and Assad for the Palestinians and their cause,” and laments that “the world” cares more about “the mujahideen” in Syria than the regime’s “planes dropping barrel bombs, and chemical weapons, and slaughter with knives.” He also calls for the release of kidnapped Christian priests and nuns, “[even though] many Christian clergymen and politicians stood with Assad and justified his criminality against our people.” On Lebanon, he says the “main reason” for the recent wave of explosions is “[Hezbollah’s] criminality in Syria,” defending March 14, the Future Movement, and President Michel Suleiman from accusations of responsibility. At the same time, he accuses Future leader MP Saad Hariri of providing “cover” for the continuing presence of the army (labeled a “tool” of Hezbollah) in Abra, and mocks March 14’s recently-launched “civil resistance” campaign, the “first result” of which was “the approval of a unity cabinet with [Hezbollah] covering their criminality in Lebanon and Syria.”

As before, it is this posture as an uncompromising defender of “the Sunni people” (Ahl al-Sunna) that appeals to Assir’s supporters. “[Some] still say they don’t feel secure anymore [after his disappearance],” a butcher near the mosque told NOW. “They say he used to protect this area.”

Yet the violent legacy of his movement has also left many in the neighborhood fearful of his reemergence, particularly in the wake of rumors tying him to extremist groups. A Twitter account said to belong to one of his wives wrote on 16 January that efforts were underway to make Assir the head of the Lebanese branch of Jabhat al-Nusra, the Al-Qaeda offshoot that has claimed two deadly suicide bombings in Lebanon* since the announcement of its formation in December 2013 and is believed to have around 170 fighters based in Sidon’s Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp. Also in December, one LAF soldier was killed and three wounded in dual attacks on army checkpoints in Sidon, including one close to Assir’s mosque. And on Friday, concerns of possible further attacks in Sidon, including car bombings, prompted authorities to implement new security measures in the city.

“He could be affiliated with any extremist group, in my opinion, because the people who don’t know God tend to bond together. […] May God take his soul,” said a baker near the mosque (at which point his younger apprentice indignantly retorted, “May God protect him!”).

“Most of us were relieved when Assir left, as though a rock were lifted off our chests,” said the manager of a nearby money transfer outlet. “I can’t tell what his possible affiliations are, but I fear he’s affiliated to a group that is worse than Jabhat al-Nusra or the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, like Al-Qaeda itself.”

“His return to the media spotlight definitely caused tension, because we here still have a feeling that things aren’t okay and something is being prepared,” the manager told NOW. “His supporters still show up at the mosque, which is why I have a feeling something might happen, especially after his latest statements.”

All interviewees requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the subject.

* Since the time of publication, Jabhat al-Nusra has claimed a third suicide bombing, killing 4 in Hermel.

So Hezbollah did fight in Abra after all?

[Originally posted at NOW]

I’ve just returned to Beirut after a week’s holiday, so apologies if I’m late to this, but judging by the lack of any mention of it in the Lebanese news that I can find, it seems I’m not the only one.

Buried in the comments section of the most recent post on Elias Muhanna’s Qifa Nabki blog is a reference to Hezbollah MP Nawwaf al-Musawi’s quiet admission, made on the Kalam Ennas TV show on July 4th, that the Party of God did in fact get militarily involved in the Lebanese army’s deadly battle with Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir’s gunmen in Sidon last month.

Musawi’s exact words, which can be heard from 21:30 in this video, were: “At the time that [Assir] attacked the Lebanese army […] he began to fire on all its surroundings […] on Haaret Saida, on all the areas, in which it’s known that we [Hezbollah] have a presence […] We, within the limits of self-defense, dealt with the fire that was coming at us.”

The choice of the phrase “dealt with” (“تعملنا مع”) obviously invokes the ominous ambiguity of cigar-chewing mobster speak, but Muhanna at any rate interprets it to mean “returning fire when they received it”. To me, even more interesting is the Orwellian invocation of “self-defense,” with its echoes of the Party’s characterization of its intervention in Syria (remember the 30,000 border village residents?). After all, if armed Sunnis in Syria are legitimate military targets, why on earth shouldn’t their counterparts in ‘The Gate of the South’ be too?

Which is not to say, of course, that Hezbollah played a major role in the Abra clashes – indeed, the evidence suggests their involvement was marginal. But it does rather call into question the continuing, indignant insistence of people like Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn, as well as the Lebanese army itself, that the Party had no involvement of any kind. (How much longer they can keep this going is unclear, particularly if Future MP Ahmad Fatfat is telling the truth about having video footage of the Party’s cadres in action in Abra.)

And it might, conceivably, be a lesson in humility to those who ridiculed the very notion of Hezbollah fighting in Abra, as though for the Party to turn its guns on fellow Lebanese were something atypical or out of character. Such people have apparently learned nothing at all from Hezbollah’s unapologetic and unembarrassed invasion of Syrian rebel-held territory, in alliance with a regime that commits daily crimes against humanity. Minor though the Abra fight was in comparison to this appalling transgression, it cannot be understood except as an extension of the same fundamental ethos, and those who persist in ignoring or distorting this do so at the expense not only of their own credibility, but of the interests of the Lebanese (and Syrian) people themselves.

Thanks to Maya Gebeily for translation.

Speaking on Monocle 24 about Sidon clashes

I spoke on Monocle 24 radio on Monday night about Sidon's clashes between Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir's militants and the Lebanese army. Episode available here (I come on at 51:30).

Abra fiercely divided after Assir defeat

[Originally posted at NOW, with slideshow of photos from the scene]

Cars roasted to the bare metal, with Assir's mosque in the background (NOW/Alex Rowell)

The apartment block in which Assir's mosque is housed, seen from the south (NOW/Alex Rowell)

Stepping through the wreckage of Sidon’s Abra neighborhood Tuesday, the once-quiet residential street which until Monday housed the mosque and operational headquarters of Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir looks as though it has been struck simultaneously by a tornado and a series of lightning bolts. The windowless, tireless remains of cars roasted to the bare metal sit beneath balconies charred jet-black by fire. Craters the size of fruit bowls punctuate the tarmac, the results of the innumerable RPGs whose casings litter the floor, adding to the layers of rubble, shattered glass, and blood.

Even on the parallel street, Abra’s main commercial thoroughfare, the heavy machine gun cartridges, bullet-speckled windows, and toasted vehicles extend for hundreds of meters in both directions. From this angle, one sees entire wall panels blown off the multi-story apartment block above Assir’s Bilal bin Rabah mosque, which is otherwise thoroughly mangled and punctured by rocket strikes. Solemn as the scene is, it hasn’t stopped some enterprising Lebanese from seeing an opportunity: tucked under the windshield wiper of one smashed-up Mercedes is a crisp business card, promising a highly competitive price for repair.

For the residents re-opening their shops for the first time since clashes broke out Sunday, the defeat of Assir’s militiamen at the hands of the Lebanese army (and, reportedly, Hezbollah-affiliated forces) has sharply polarized opinions, with some deflated, some delighted, and most somewhere in between.

“We feel sorry for the people who died, especially in the army,” said a roast chicken vendor whom NOW previously interviewed on Friday. “The people who died from Assir’s side were also good people, but they got brainwashed.”

“Fine, the army got rid of Assir, but they left us with the [Hezbollah-affiliated] Resistance Brigades, who are also thugs,” said a resident living just outside the mosque complex. “We want all weapons to be with the state only. We don’t want Hezbollah’s ‘resistance,’ because their idea of resistance is a lie.”

Others disagreed. “We are with the army and Hezbollah to stop Israel, which is the real enemy,” said a sweets vendor, who claimed to be Sunni although his arm bore a tattoo of Zulfiqar, the sword of Imam Ali, the reverence of whom is most commonly associated with Shiite Islam. “We love [Syrian President] Bashar [al-Assad], because he gave full support to us during the fight against Israel. In Lebanon, there is too much segregation, between Sunnis and Shiites, etc., but the army is united. Priority number one is to follow the army.”

Just meters away, NOW encountered a group of youths whose views could scarcely have been more different.

“Today, we are sad, because we are pro-Assir. This army is not a Lebanese army, it’s Hezbollah’s and Iran’s army,” said one.

Asked what they think Assir – whose whereabouts remain unknown – will do next, they spoke enthusiastically of revenge.

“God willing, he is in Syria now. Hopefully he’ll finish off the [Assad] regime and then come back,” said one.

“This is not the end, this is just the beginning,” said another. “The Free Syrian Army will come back and help Assir defeat Hezbollah. For Syrian people, Hezbollah is now the number one enemy, even more than Bashar. Syrians remember how in 2006 they took in Lebanese refugees with hospitality, and now those same refugees are killing them in Syria.”

Nor, despite Assir’s vow to stay in the mosque until “martyrdom,” were these supporters disappointed by his decision to flee. “He fled because if he was martyred yesterday, his movement would be finished. He only lost the battle, not the war.”

Others, too, gave indications that further unrest may yet be in store for Abra.

“People are only hating each other even more now,” said the chicken vendor. “Earlier today, there was a fight between a Sunni and a Shiite. Later, a Shiite youth walked past us and made a ‘victory’ sign.”

Indeed, for the first time since Assir’s movement gained local prominence in late 2011, on Tuesday Hezbollah supporters were able to openly display their allegiance. As NOW spoke to the youths, a car drove down the busy main thoroughfare playing a loud recording of a fiery speech by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. And on the devastated parallel street, one block away from the Bilal bin Rabah mosque, a large Hezbollah flag appeared on a balcony – apparently the same balcony that had been attacked by Assir’s gunmen a week earlier, sparking the clashes that anticipated the heavier ones that followed on Sunday.

“They’re humiliating us,” said a car mechanic, referring to the flag. “Doesn’t Hezbollah have weapons? Doesn’t the Amal Movement have weapons? OK, then, why am I as a Sunni not allowed to have weapons?”

It was precisely such sentiments of sectarian victimhood that Assir repeatedly emphasized in his weekly sermons and public speeches. Evidently, the frustrations that fuelled his movement have not disappeared with him.

Yara Chehayed contributed reporting.

Sidon's civilians trapped in war zone

[Originally posted at NOW]

As intense gunfights engulfed the city of Sidon Monday between partisans of Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir and the Lebanese army – reportedly with assistance from Hezbollah-affiliated militias – the majority of civilians in and around the flashpoint Abra neighborhood remained trapped in their homes for the second consecutive day. While the army advanced on and eventually entered Assir’s heavily-fortified mosque complex in the heart of Abra, incurring at least sixteen casualties in the process, NOW spoke to a number of local residents who told of harrowing ordeals endured in the past twenty-four hours.

“This whole situation is absolutely too much for a human being to handle,” said Hiba Lateef, who spoke from her house just a couple of blocks away from Assir’s Bilal bin Rabah mosque. “I’ve been stuck in my corridor since yesterday afternoon. The bombardment has been unbelievable, tremendously terrifying.”

“We have a food supply here but we’ve been unable to reach the kitchen at times, it’s been that bad. And on top of that, there’s no electricity. We were on [the] generator from yesterday until about 11am today, and then it ran out of fuel. So now we don’t have any electricity at all.”

Others have fared worse. Sara Hammoud was hiding in the stairwell outside her Abra apartment Sunday when she heard a deafening bang inside. “It wasn’t quite a rocket, but it was some kind of big bullet that flew into my kitchen,” she told NOW. After spending the night too afraid to enter the house again, on Monday she and her family appealed to a nearby army unit on the street to cover them as they fled by car to Jezzine, and from there to Beirut.

Escape, however, has not been possible for most of Abra’s residents, according to Mayor Walid Mshantaf, who was himself unable to leave home Sunday. “The army has managed to make escape routes in some cases,” he told NOW. “But because of the shooting, most people are trapped in their houses.”

“We’re also facing problems from snipers, and civilians being caught in between them. Some people were even taken as hostages by militiamen for protection.”

Mshantaf said he could not confirm how many civilian casualties have been incurred, referring NOW to Red Cross figures, the latest of which put the number of injured at 78.

Even those not in the mosque’s immediate vicinity faced bombardment, especially those exposed to the Haaret Saida neighborhood to the southwest.

“We’re not close to Bilal bin Rabah, we’re facing the Haara,” said Basma Khayyat. “Yet this afternoon things were extremely terrible. Our building was hit by bombs coming from Haara, I think from the [Hezbollah-affiliated] Resistance Brigades, and our water tanks were all completely destroyed. We also had snipers under our building, and the army was trying to figure out where they were, and so they were just bombing all around us,” she told NOW.

Nor did the comparative distance from the center of the fighting make escape any easier.

“We called the Red Cross and told them we have two children and asked them to take us out, and they said, ‘Just stay in your place, we can’t reach you.’ We called the army, because we have numbers for some soldiers that we know, and they told us the same. We called politicians, and other powerful people we knew, and no one was able to take us out.”

Like many people in their predicament, Khayyat’s family was only able to get away by taking a risk during a lull in the clashes.

“After we realized no one could help us, we made our own decision to leave. We packed bags and waited for it to get a little bit quieter, then went out. We saw soldiers who were shooting, and they told us to get back inside, but we didn’t listen to them and took the back roads to the mountains.”

And, while the battle calmed somewhat Monday evening after the army’s takeover of Assir’s headquarters, sporadic sniper and RPG fire continued to keep many housebound.

“Lots of people are still stuck there and are unable to get out” said Khayyat. “Some people’s children are not with them; they were doing different activities; they were in different places. Some wives cannot reach their husbands. I have a colleague who was living two buildings away from me, we were talking together on WhatsApp, and then her phone switched off. I’m sending her messages but she’s not responding.”

“I’m worried, I don’t know what’s happening. I just hope everything will be better soon.”

Some of the above names have been changed at the interviewees’ requests.

Yara Chehayed contributed reporting.

Law enforcement, or rough justice?

[Originally posted at NOW]

Seated under a large rectangular tent in the village of Wadi al-Nahleh on the northeastern outskirts of Tripoli Monday afternoon, surrounded by about a hundred men in suit jackets clutching prayer beads and small plastic coffee cups, the father of Muhammad Abdullah Seif spoke calmly but with iron conviction.

“We will wait for the court to hold the officers responsible to account,” he told NOW. “We don’t want to block more roads – I myself went yesterday to re-open them. But if the court does not act objectively, they can expect our reaction. We are a tribal community, I cannot control the neighborhood. Maybe we will choose to forgive the officers, or maybe we will take revenge.”

In between answering our questions, he rose to greet more well-wishers, coming to pay condolences for the loss of his 19-year-old son, killed Sunday along with fellow villager, 24-year-old Mahmoud Raya, in a shootout with the Lebanese authorities that also took the life of Internal Security Forces (ISF) officer Ali Saqr.

The clashes broke out after the ISF, along with the army, attempted to demolish some illegally-constructed buildings in the village. Wadi al-Nahleh is an impoverished shanty quarter on the hills below the Beddawi Palestinian refugee camp, inhabited by a few hundred Lebanese tribespeople. Its one tarmac road splinters into gravel alleyways, flanked by unpainted brick shacks with corrugated iron roofs held in place by old tires and planks of wood. Aside from a few small “Free Syria” flags, there is little sign of any political affiliation.

How exactly the gunfire began is disputed. The villagers’ version of events has it that the ISF “opened fire at children who were throwing stones,” at which point locals returned fire in self-defense. Sporting a bandaged arm and head, 38-year-old Mustafa Seif told NOW he was the victim of unprovoked aggression. “I came down to disperse the kids who were throwing stones at the police and army. I turned my back to the army, I trusted them, and they shot me. I now have bullet shards in my neck, back, and hand.”

Another resident identifying himself as a cousin of the deceased Muhammad Seif described a darker scene. “I have to tell you, this was a massacre. My cousin was injured and still the officer shot him again. As for Mahmoud Raya, he was shot from just thirty centimeters away, execution-style.” Such claims cannot be independently verified, though local children showed NOW photos on their phones of a corpse on the floor, a thick pool of blood seeping out of a mangled skull.

By contrast, an ISF spokesperson told NOW their fire only came “in response” to shots from the villagers, who turned violent when the ISF verbally ordered them to remove the illegal buildings.

The mayor of Wadi al-Nahleh, Majed Abd al-Rahman Ghamrawi, could not be reached for comment.

For decades, illegal construction has taken place in hundreds of locations all over Lebanon, and it is unclear why Wadi al-Nahleh was singled out for disciplinary treatment this time. Commenting on the clashes, former ISF head Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi suggested the construction was being driven by the influx of Syrian refugees to the area, though NOW saw no Syrians in the village and residents denied any were living among them.

An alternative explanation, cited in some reports, lays the blame on corruption within the ISF ranks. According to unnamed sources, ISF officials had been accepting bribes in return for allowing illegal buildings to stand. When the bribe money was no longer forthcoming, the ISF took punitive measures. This echoes accusations reported by NOW after a similar incident in Tyre in 2011, when two men were also killed by the ISF following attempts to remove illegal construction. On that occasion, residents told NOW that obtaining permission for such buildings by paying bribes to ISF members was commonplace.

None of the Wadi al-Nahleh residents explicitly made this allegation to NOW on Monday, though the late Muhammad Seif’s father said that for four years, disputes with the ISF over illegal construction had been “dealt with peacefully,” a possible allusion to bribery. An ISF spokesperson denied any corruption within the organization to NOW.

Former Tripoli MP for the Democratic Renewal (Tajaddod) Movement, Mosbah al-Ahdab, also finds the theory somewhat far-fetched.

“Unfortunately, there is bribery in this country, absolutely,” he told NOW. “Everything’s falling apart, and corruption is everywhere, to say the opposite would not sound credible. But I don’t think security forces would start shooting at civilians over this.”

In any case, as Seif’s father’s talk of “revenge” made clear, the matter is not yet settled, and more blood may spill before it is. The ISF spokesman told NOW the organization is currently conducting an internal investigation, after which it may resume its attempts to clear Wadi al-Nahleh of illegal buildings.

“We are waiting for the judicial decision. If there is a decision to remove more buildings, then we will do so.”

Yara Chehayed contributed reporting.

March 14 scrambles to keep top security ally

[Originally posted at NOW]

In an abrupt departure from wrangling over electoral laws, MPs from the Future Movement along with their March 14 allies and Walid Jumblatt’s Progressive Socialist Party have made urgent attempts this week to pass a draft law that would raise the mandatory retirement age for top security officials, several of whom would otherwise be forced to step down later this year.

These officials include 59-year-old army chief General Jean Qahwaji and Internal Security Forces (ISF) head Major General Ashraf Rifi, who will turn 59 in April – the maximum age for the post. The draft law would extend both men’s terms for another three years.

President Michel Suleiman submitted the bill to cabinet on Thursday. Rifi himself expressed doubts Friday that it would pass cabinet, saying it “needs the approval of two thirds of the ministers and this is not possible because more than half of them object to an extension of my term.” Both Hezbollah and the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), who collectively occupy 9 out of 30 seats, have explicitly opposed the proposal, arguing the government should appoint successors to the posts. Should Rifi’s extension be rejected and a successor not appointed, Rifi indicated his deputy Brigadier General Roger Salem would replace him – though Salem, himself, is due to reach retirement age this year. Rifi could not be reached for comment.

The loss of Rifi would be taken by March 14 as a significant setback. Though the movement’s leaders have officially touted the draft law as a non-partisan move to preserve national stability, few observers are in doubt that their priority is keeping Rifi in place, and indeed one Future MP admitted as much to NOW.

“After the [October 19, 2012] assassination of [ISF Information Branch head Brigadier General] Wissam al-Hassan, our security is exposed to many factors and parties, and Rifi is bravely filling his station,” said MP Ahmad Fatfat. “We trust Rifi and need him in this position. If someone is trying to move Rifi away, then he is definitely part of the assassination process, and he wants us as March 14 to be exposed,” he added, in a likely reference to Hezbollah and the FPM.

“Even Jumblatt is feeling the need for this extension,” added Fatfat, referring to the former March 14 firebrand (and long-rumored assassination target) whose party now has three ministers in the March 8-aligned cabinet. Echoing the official March 14 line, Jumblatt says his support for Rifi’s extension derives from general security concerns.

Rifi’s close ties to March 14, and the Future Movement in particular, have long been something of an open secret. “There’s a certain balance in security, based on the fact that some institutions are controlled by March 8 and others are controlled by March 14,” said former Tripoli MP Mosbah al-Ahdab of the Democratic Renewal (Tajaddod) Movement. “[Rifi] is one of the main people representing [March 14].”

This is further borne out in the US embassy cables leaked in 2010, which generally portray Rifi as a determined opponent of the Syrian regime and its key Lebanese ally, Hezbollah. The cables also make clear that sees himself and the ISF he helped build as locked in a “race against time” to neutralize the threats he believes these parties pose to Lebanon. Former US ambassador Jeffrey Feltman wrote of the ISF’s “connections to [Future Movement leader] Saad Hariri and its heavily Sunni (i.e., essentially anti-Hizballah [sic]) officer ranks.” Such ‘connections’ may even be military – one cable from 2008 quotes Jumblatt claiming that Rifi was assisting Hariri in amassing a 15,000-strong militia. In the same year, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea also reportedly told former US chargé d’affaires Michele Sison that both he and Jumblatt were trying to buy ammunition from Rifi for their own militias.

Whatever the exact nature of Rifi’s ties to March 14, the bloc evidently deems him an invaluable asset – a fact which analysts say reflects the top-heavy structure of Lebanese security institutions in general.

“This demonstrates the continuing importance of individual authorities within the Lebanese security architecture,” said Elias Muhanna, assistant professor at Brown University and author of the Qifa Nabki blog. “There is no such thing as institutional memory in these intelligence branches; the inner circle is extremely small and therefore extremely valuable.”

Indeed, this heavy reliance on individuals is a key weakness of the system that requires reform, according to Ahdab.

“I think this all needs to be reviewed,” he told NOW. “Because prolonging the mandate for Rifi also means maintaining the same security structure and renewing other [security] positions. So the question is do we want to renew this, or would we like to change it?”

“Of course, we’d like to change it. Perhaps the timing is not right. But definitely this is not the solution; this is prolonging a situation where the state is absolutely losing ground and not controlling what is happening.”

“We saw that starting in Tripoli, and now it’s spreading all over Lebanon.”

Yara Chehayed contributed reporting.

Free Pierre

[Originally posted at NOW Lebanon]

Is Lebanon a police state? The question isn’t as absurd as it might initially seem. For while the country’s liberal and democratic reputation is largely deserved – and it is plainly worlds away from the carnivorous regimes of its neighbors – every now and then the authorities conduct themselves in ways more reminiscent of Pyongyang than Paris.

The assault of artist and activist Pierre Hashash on Wednesday, in which he was allegedly apprehended by plain-clothed army intelligence and beaten with rifles on his head in broad daylight in Batroun, is but the latest example. According to eyewitnesses, Hashash was outside a Dunkin Donuts café when four men approached him. “You know who we are? We’re going to show you who we are”, was all they said before the violence began. His sister told NOW Arabic that he is currently in the Qobbeh prison in Tripoli, where he is being denied medical care.

It remains unclear why exactly he was “arrested”, if the above actions can be so described. One version has it that he insulted army commander General Qahwaji on Facebook, a charge denied by his family. Others note that he received a call from someone purporting to be the military police ten days before the assault, summoning him to their office, after which he posted the following to Facebook: “Dear security institutions’ officials, [just] let me and people like me be. He who wants something from me [must] legally and officially inform me through the police. Enough. Maybe the anonymous is really anonymous and intends to make my fate anonymous as well” (Original Arabic transcript viewable here ). It’s also possible that he had already displeased the Establishment with his politically-themed (and, incidentally, excellent) rap songs and quixotic attempts to run for parliament in Batroun and Tripoli.

Needless to say, speculating as to the “reason” for the assault is beside the point. It is flagrantly illegal to use such brutality against serious criminals, let alone innocents. If the authorities wish to earn the respect that they so often demands of their citizens, then Hashash’s immediate release, along with a full, transparent investigation into this misconduct – with justice served to all individuals involved – is a minimum requirement.

For the latest info on the case, follow the #FreePierre hashtag on Twitter and the ‘Support Pierre’ page on Facebook.

Inside the dungeons: Talking to detained and beaten journalist Rami Aysha

[Originally posted at NOW Lebanon]

On August 30, the Lebanese-Palestinian journalist Rami Aysha was arrested in Beirut’s southern suburbs, after which he was beaten and jailed without charge for almost a month. As NOW Lebanon previously reported, Aysha’s case became something of a cause célèbre, with one press freedom watchdog describing it as the worst violation of its kind in the country for over two years. Following his release last week, NOW spoke with Aysha, who vows to continue his work despite the brutal treatment to which he was subjected.

Firstly, let’s go back to the day you were arrested. Where were you, what were you doing, and what happened?

Rami Aysha: I was near the airport road, by Al Saha restaurant. I don’t agree with the word “arrested” because only the Lebanese authorities can arrest me. The horrifying thing was I was kidnapped by people on a motorcycle amid a traffic jam. They pressed a gun to my back, blindfolded me and abducted me without anyone interfering to prevent them.

For the first three hours I was brutally tortured – they hit me with sticks and guns, placed blades against my throat, and broke my finger. One of them asked me which hand I write with. I lied, telling him “the left,” and then they started hitting it.

Some said it was Hezbollah that arrested you, others such as Al Manar and New TV said it was the army mukhabarrat (“intelligence”). Which is true?

Aysha: I cannot accuse anyone because I don’t know who they were and they didn’t identify themselves. However, I can say it wasn’t the army intelligence. I was handed to them only after three hours.

Tell us about how you were treated after that.

Aysha: At the end of the three hours, still blindfolded, I was pushed against a wall. I thought this was the end, and I started praying. Then, out of nowhere, an army intelligence member came in and said “Don’t worry, I’m army intelligence and I’ll get you out of here,” and asked me to run along a path. I was relieved because he was an official and I was in the hands of the government. Even so, on our way out we were swore at and hit by the others while this man tried to protect me. A belt blow on the back of my head still hurts now.

When I arrived at the army intelligence I was again beaten, though they later apologized and handed me to the military police. I was cuffed, blindfolded, hungry and thirsty from the moment of my detention on Thursday till Saturday night. I don’t blame the commanders in charge of the intelligence or the military police for the brutality, but I do blame their juniors.

There is a rumor that you are the journalist who carried out the famous interview for Time magazine with one of the four Hezbollah members indicted by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. Is this true?

Aysha: No, I didn’t do the interview and I don’t take credit for others’ efforts. Time magazine has confirmed this. I was even investigated by former General Prosecutor Judge Said Mirza and was proven to have no involvement.

We also heard that you have worked on several arms smuggling stories before. Can you give some examples of things you’ve investigated?

Aysha: I’ve worked on [Palestinian refugee] camps and many other topics before. I’m an investigative reporter and most of my work is on sensitive issues.

Have you been mistreated while working on stories before?

Aysha: We are in Lebanon, not Europe. I have been harassed many times and even hit before, but this is the first time I was detained.

When you were in jail, your lawyer told us there were no plans to take legal action upon your release. However, you have since said you will “fight in court to prove [your] innocence.” What exactly do you plan to do?

Aysha: I will do my best to get my innocence proven, though the judges are trying to release me with a sufficiency period which in itself convicts me. I reject this move, and will take the issue to the court of cassation [the supreme court of Lebanon].

Will you continue to work as a journalist after all this?

Aysha: Definitely, I will continue my job and mission as a journalist. Let no one think I will stop journalism for a moment.

Agnes Helou contributed reporting.

This interview has been condensed and edited.

Military precision? Assessing the army's role in Abdel Wahed's killing

[Originally posted at NOW Lebanon. Co-written with Shane Farrell]

The killing of a Sunni cleric and his bodyguard by a soldier at a checkpoint in Akkar on Sunday is a setback to the image of neutrality on which the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) prides itself. The cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Abdel Wahed, was an outspoken critic of the Syrian regime, a fact that has led to speculation about a possible political motive for the killing. The incident comes days after deadly clashes began in Tripoli sparked by the General Security’s arrest of Shadi Mawlawi, an Islamist accused of belonging to a terrorist organization. Supporters of Mawlawi deny this, believing his arrest to have been political, due to his support for the Syrian opposition. He was released on Tuesday.

The precise details surrounding Sunday’s killing of the two men remain unclear. According to Abdel Wahed's driver, Khaled Merheb, whose story has been corroborated by most reports, the sheikh was in the car with his bodyguard, Mohammad Hussein Merheb, and Khaled Merheb was driving. At the checkpoint a verbal altercation between the sheikh and one soldier began after the sheikh was asked to get out of the car. The chauffeur stepped out, but Abdel Wahed took the driver’s seat and turned the vehicle around to go back, which is when the soldier fired at the car, killing the sheikh.

Assuming that this was the case—that is, that the killing was not in self-defense—then it constitutes a flagrant and criminal violation of military procedure, according to retired LAF General Elias Hanna. “The rules of engagement mandate a progressive increase in the use of violence. Firing should be the last step. You talk first, you warn, you create hurdles in the path of the vehicle, you inform another checkpoint. Only after all of these should you shoot.”

However, Hanna warned sternly against jumping to conclusions, given the current uncertainty about the details. “In such a critical situation, how can you have an opinion without facts? The shooting of the sheikh does not necessarily mean that the rules of engagement weren’t applied. What we lack so far is technical information of what really happened. Did the bodyguard of the sheikh fire on the army? I don’t know. So I think we have to wait and see the results of the investigation about possible weapons that were with the sheikh and his bodyguard.”

While such caution may well be wise, at this point the army seems to have accepted responsibility for the killing, describing the deceased in a statement as “victims” and expressing “deep regret” for the “mishap.”

According to Riad Kahwaji, chief executive of Dubai-based security think tank INEGMA, the army’s next move is of key importance, though it must act quickly and decisively. “The killing of the sheikh is a major setback to the army’s image and undermines its achievements over the past year. Having said that, if we see the army quickly apprehending, arresting and trying officers in accordance with the law […] this will act as a factor which will help restore confidence.”

An investigation into the incident began on Sunday, according to an army statement, but there have been calls, including by the Higher Islamic Council, for the investigation to be transferred to the Judicial Council, where it would be tried under civil law, rather than the military tribunal.

Although some have argued that the army is already taking sides in the conflict in Syria, for example by arresting and detaining regime dissenters who have fled across the border into Lebanon, Kahwaji disagrees. He did, however, express fears that the army may succumb to political destabilization. “The Lebanese cannot lose trust or give up on the military establishment. It is one of the very few—if not the only—state establishment which is to a large extent immune from the sectarian virus we have in the country. If the army splits, the country will disintegrate.”

Perhaps most dangerously, the Abdel Wahed shooting is likely to further sour relations between the army and the Sunni community as a whole. In a statement released Sunday, religious and political figures from the northern town of Minnieh said the killing “harms the army’s reputation and its relation with citizens in the North.” Hanna agrees, telling NOW that “There has been distrust ever since May 7, [2008],” when Hezbollah-aligned gunmen took over parts of mostly Sunni West Beirut and other areas of the country, without significant interference from the army. Hanna believes that Sunday’s events have only increased distrust among Sunnis toward the army and the wider security and intelligence apparatus. This distrust is especially pronounced in Akkar. However, he does not believe that recent events risk splitting the army, because “it is in no one’s interest to do so.”

In any event, the army will face substantial challenges in the coming weeks. Should it fail to deliver justice in Abdel Wahed’s case while also restoring the Sunni community’s faith in the institution in general, the prospects for a secure Lebanon will only deteriorate further.