A picture taken on April 25, 2013 shows Lebanese Salafist leader Sheikh Ahmad Al Assir in his office in the southern city of Sidon. AFP Photo
A picture taken on April 25, 2013 shows Lebanese Salafist leader Sheikh Ahmad Al Assir in his office in the southern city of Sidon. AFP Photo
A picture taken on April 25, 2013 shows Lebanese Salafist leader Sheikh Ahmad Al Assir in his office in the southern city of Sidon. AFP Photo
A picture taken on April 25, 2013 shows Lebanese Salafist leader Sheikh Ahmad Al Assir in his office in the southern city of Sidon. AFP Photo

World

Lebanese security forces arrest hard-line cleric Al Assir

He was detained at Beirut's airport while trying to flee the country in disguise.

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BEIRUT // Lebanese authorities say they have arrested a fugitive hard-line cleric who was wanted on suspicion of being involved in a deadly shoot-out with government troops in 2014.

Two senior security officials say Sheikh Ahmad Al Assir was detained on Saturday at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport as he was trying to flee the country in a disguise and using a forged passport.

Sheikh Al Assir, a firebrand anti-Hizbollah cleric, has been on the run since June 2014 after his armed supporters clashed with the Lebanese army in the southern port city of Sidon. The fighting killed 18 Lebanese soldiers and deepened sectarian tensions between Sunnis and Shiites.

* Associated Press

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