10/08/12

Two prominent Shiite clerics in Lebanon, Mohammad Hassan al-Amin and Hani Fahs, issued a joint statement on Thursday calling on Lebanon’s Shiites to support the popular uprising in neighboring Syria.

“We call on [Lebanon’s Shiites to] support the Arab uprisings…particularly the Syrian [one] which will triumph, God willing.”  

“Among the [factors] that guarantee a [good] future for us in Lebanon, is for Syria to be stable, free, and ruled by a democratic, pluralist and modern state,” the two signatories said. 

The two Shiite clerics added: “We reveal our unwavering stance in support of the Syrian uprising in an unambiguous [and] non-aggressive way; the same way we backed the Palestinian, Iranian, Egyptian, Yemeni and Libyan revolutions and sympathized with the reform movements and popular [protests] in Iran, Bahrain, Mauritania and Sudan.”

Hezbollah is the largest Shiite party in Lebanon and spearheads the pro-Syrian regime March 8 alliance. 

Lebanon’s political scene is split between supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, led by Hezbollah, and the pro-Western March 14 camp.

-NOWLebanon