Lebanon Sunnis freeze Hizbullah deal

Several Sunni factions in Lebanon announced Tuesday night that they are freezing a truce they had signed with Hizbullah a day earlier.

The agreement, intended to defuse sectarian tension, prohibited any Muslim group from attacking fellow Muslims.

“The agreement will be temporarily frozen pending appropriate circumstances that allow for its implementation,” Sheikh Hassan al-Shahhal, who signed the memorandum with a Hizbullah official, told reporters Tuesday, according to The Lebanese Daily Star. The Sunni community, he said, needed to stand “more than ever” united and to shun divisions, while the memorandum needed further study.

Hizbullah officials said Wednesday that they respect the groups’ choice of freezing the memorandum of understanding for more discussions and revisions.

“They will find Hizbullah is always by their side in any decision they find appropriate,” the press release said, according to the NOW Lebanon news site.

Hizbullah signed the agreement on Monday with some Salafist groups, followers of a radical form of Sunni Islam. Many Salafists consider Shi’ites to be heretics.

Lebanon: Hizbullah, Salafi group sign MoU

Lebanon’s Hizbullah on Monday signed a new memorandum of understanding with another Lebanese group, in a bid to “preserve national unity and prevent sedition” in the country. The document was signed Monday between Hizbullah and the Salafist movement in a ceremony that was held at the Safir Metropolitan Hotel in Beirut.

The Shiite movement was represented in the ceremony by the head of its political council Sayyed Ibrahim Amin As-Sayyed, while the Salafist movement was represented by Sheikh Hassan Shahhal.

The new memorandum of understanding includes eight main clauses, emphasizing the need to stay united to confront sedition schemes and plots.

“First of all, and based on the holiness of the Muslim’s blood, we condemn any assault of one Islamic group against another,” the memorandum read. “If any group was exposed to an assault, it can resort to all legitimate means to protect itself,” it added.

The memorandum also stressed on the need to abandon incitement, which creates trouble and would allow the enemies to take advantage of the situation. It called on all Muslims to stay united against the Zionist-American scheme that aims at creating division and provoke sedition.

“In case either Hizbullah or the Salafists were subjected to injustice by domestic or external sides, it should be backed by the other side,” the statement also read. It stipulated forming a religious committee to discuss any disagreement between the Muslim Shiites and Sunnis.

Sayyed Ibrahim Amin As-Sayyed, who represented Hizbullah in the ceremony, stressed that the memorandum will relieve people who call for unity, especially within the same confession, and it will bother our enemies who wanted to segregate us. “Signing the memorandum is important because it will pave the way to solving controversial problems,” he noted, stressing that the misunderstandings were the result of incitement and blasphemy.

For his part, Sheikh Shahhal said the understanding was a courageous step in order to support civil peace, predicting that this step will lead to positive initiatives.