BEIRUT (The Daily Star): Lebanese Army defector Abdallah Shehadeh in a video released Thursday said Hezbollah’s "manipulation" of the military and its "discrimination" against Sunni personnel were what prompted him to join the Nusra Front.
“We enlisted in the Army in order to defend the Lebanese people, but we were surprised to see that (the Army) is a tool in the hands of Hezbollah, which uses it for its own purposes,” Shehadeh said in the video posted by Nusra.
He charged that Hezbollah’s alleged hegemony on the Army bolstered Shiite personnel and encouraged discrimination against Sunni servicemen.
“The smallest Shiite soldier is capable of intimidating the biggest Sunni officer,” Shehadeh claimed.
Harassment and humiliation of veiled Sunni women at Army checkpoints and persecution of Sunnis in general were also cited by Shehadeh as causes for deserting the military.
“It is common knowledge that a Muslim (Sunni) who grows a beard is immediately arrested at checkpoints and sent to Roumieh [Prison], whereas the movement of (Hezbollah) rockets is facilitated at these checkpoints,” he charged.
Shehadeh appeared in the video standing in front of an Army Humvee filled with weapons and ammunition, which he said were sent by Saudi Arabia to the Lebanese military “to kill the brotherly mujahedeen” in Syria.
“These machineguns, ammunitions and night goggles are now bounties for the militants,” he said
Shehadeh called on Nusra Front leader Abu Mohammad al-Golani to enter Lebanon in order to free the “oppressed Sunnis” and pleaded with Sunni servicemen to quit the Army “before it was too late.”
He warned that the Lebanese Army will pay the price for being a pawn in Hezbollah’s hand, stressing that “the equation became crystal clear” after the party’s intervention in Syria.
“Hezbollah entered Syria and killed the people. So it is natural that the mujahedeen enter Lebanon to kill Hezbollah and their followers,” Shehadeh added.
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