Press Release
The Bloody Events of Tripoli and the Arrest of Activists in Support of the Revolution of Ash-Sham Prove that the De Facto Authority in Lebanon is not Impartial, but is part of the Alliance Supporting the Tyrant of Ash-Sham
(Translated)

Here is a new round of killing and destruction in Tripoli since the 7th of May 2008. Terrifying nights, deafening sounds of guns and heavy machine guns, those killed and wounded, and those displaced and doomed. Then the round ends, waiting for another one as if nothing had happened. Still, the lives, blood and homes of the people are used as cheap mailboxes by the disputing sides to exchange messages and political pressures.

A gang belonging to the tyrant of ash-Sham is fortified in Ba'al Mohsen. It derives absolute material and political support from the allies of the tyrant in Lebanon. They send car bombs to kill worshipers in mosques, wresting away the lives of dozens and injuring hundreds, while the accusation is confined to individuals. Afterwards, and with all audacity, the leader of this gang threatens the people of Tripoli promising them doom and destruction, because he possesses full confidence that the ruling party in Lebanon supports him.

In Tripoli there are leaders, who have led people by action or word that participate in the government claiming to represent them. In fact all of them, without exception, are unable to influence any governmental decision to eradicate this "cyst" that drained Tripoli and its people throughout the lean years. They even contribute to keep this wound open to be a means of pressure whenever they receive the regional signal.

At each of these rounds the voices and the horns of the political class rise: "We have no choice but the state and its institutions!" What state are you talking of?! Is there something to be called a "state" in Lebanon, after all that we've seen in recent years?! In Lebanon there is no state, but the remnants of a state, not doing its original and natural job, which is to care for the affairs of the people. Rather they are tools in the hands of the forces of fait accompli. America and Iran have shared this "state" in complementing roles in order to keep Lebanon under control, and to prevent its people from supporting the people of Syria, and to use Lebanon as a platform to support the country's tyrant. This authority knows how to support Hizb Iran in Sidon. It covers their military operation in ‘Abra, whereas in Tripoli they do not know but to be a frontal shield to defend the gang killings in Ba'al Mohsen. The arrests of activists in support of the revolution of ash-Sham in Tripoli and the Bekaa - including Dr. Abdel Nasser Shattah and Sheikh Abdul Qader Abdel Fattah - were accompanied by false and misleading statements to add striking evidence of the involvement of the remnants of authority in Lebanon with the alliance supporting the tyrant regime. There was no real charge against the aforementioned, except that they are supporters of the oppressed people of Syria.

It is time for the people of Tripoli to divest the corrupt political class of their trust, and that they sever hope in the so-called state in Lebanon. Also they have to pressure the people of power amongst them, who have conserved even the slightest rest of loyalty to their Ummah and their people, to terminate their dependence on the regional orders that do not care for this Ummah's sanctity. They shall not stop at the red lines drawn by these manipulative criminals that play with people's lives, security and interests. It is the right of the people of Tripoli to live safely and in contentment, without a handful of Bashar's Shabiha troubling their security from time to time in the neighborhood of the city.

The Messenger of Allah (saw) said: «مَنْ رَأَى مِنْكُمْ مُنْكَرًا فَلْيُغَيِّرْهُ بِيَدِهِ فَإِنْ لَمْ يَسْتَطِعْ فَبِلِسَانِهِ فَإِنْ لَمْ يَسْتَطِعْ فَبِقَلْبِهِ وَذَلِكَ أَضْعَفُ الْإِيمَانِ» "Whoever of you sees a Munkar (wrongdoing) shall change it with his hand. If he is unable, he shall change it with his tongue, if he is unable he shall detest it in his heart and that is the weakest Iman."
Are there not among us from the people of power, piety, magnanimity and rescue who will make the effort of establishing a state that takes care of people's affairs with sincerity? Are there not among us people that will remove this evil and eradicate the scourge with their hand, such that every oppressive criminal will receive his punishment, for the people to live in security and safety?!

[إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَذِكْرَى لِمَنْ كَانَ لَهُ قَلْبٌ أَوْ أَلْقَى السَّمْعَ وَهُوَ شَهِيد]

"Indeed in that is a reminder for whoever has a heart or who listens while he is present [in mind]" [Qaf: 37]

Ahmad Al-Qasas
Head of the Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir
in Wilayah Lebanon