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Tunisian Arrested on Suspicion of Plotting to Assassinate President

Tunisian President Kais Saied. (AP)
Tunisian President Kais Saied. (AP)
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Tunisian Arrested on Suspicion of Plotting to Assassinate President

Tunisian President Kais Saied. (AP)
Tunisian President Kais Saied. (AP)

A Tunisian has been arrested on suspicion of plotting to assassinate President Kais Saied, revealed Tunisian security forces.

Sources in the capital, Tunis, said the “lone wolf” suspect was a Tunisian member of the ISIS terrorist group and had infiltrated the country from neighboring Libya.

Security forces in the city of Monastir arrested a man who was inciting to assassinate Saied. He had posted his “terrorist” incitement on Facebook, said the Interior Ministry.

This is not the first time that the president has revealed a plot to kill him.

He had previously spoken of a plot to poison his food and the presidency had received an envelope containing a poisonous substance.

Saied had on Friday accused political forces of plotting his assassination.

“I fear no one but God. If I were to die, I will die a martyr,” he declared.

Moreover, he said some sides were “conspiring” to turn foreign countries against the president and Tunisia.

They will be thwarted by the law, he vowed.

Saied also criticized political Islam, saying some sides claim to adhere to Islam, but often resort to lies in their political life.

A spokesman for the moderate Islamist Ennahda refuted the president’s hints that the party was plotting to kill him.

Fathi Al-Ayadi called on the security and judicial agencies to investigate the president’s claims to reassure the people.

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Israel Draws up Buffer Zone in Southern Lebanon, Warns People against Approaching it

Israeli artillery fire is seen in the Lebanese section of Shebaa. (AFP file)
Israeli artillery fire is seen in the Lebanese section of Shebaa. (AFP file)
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Israel Draws up Buffer Zone in Southern Lebanon, Warns People against Approaching it

Israeli artillery fire is seen in the Lebanese section of Shebaa. (AFP file)
Israeli artillery fire is seen in the Lebanese section of Shebaa. (AFP file)

Israel has drawn up a map of a buffer zone in southern Lebanon, the first time it has done so since the ceasefire agreement went into effect in November.

An Israeli drone threw on Thursday leaflets with a map of the zone as it flew over the southeastern town of Shebaa.

The map delineated the zone with a red line, warning people against crossing it. “Anyone who enters the area is putting himself in danger,” read the leaflet.

Some observers said such a move is purely part of Israeli security measures, while others have interpreted it as an attempt to impose a new reality on the ground.

Field sources said Israel had previously thrown similar leaflets in Shebaa in July, warning beekeepers to clear areas Israel had deemed as “sensitive”.

On Wednesday, Israeli Chief of the General Staff commander Eyal Zamir toured areas inside southern Lebanon, in a move seen as consolidating the new security status quo on the border.

Retired Major General Dr. Abdel Rahman Shahtali said that with the new map, Israel is working on imposing a new reality along the border.

This is a very dangerous development, “rather, it is more dangerous than dangerous,” he told Asharq al-Awsat.

He warned that if Lebanon agrees to it, then it is effectively giving up Lebanese territory to Israel.

These areas are defined as Lebanese through official agreements between Lebanon and Syria, he stressed.

The area covered in the new map spans around 50 kms squared. “These are completely Lebanese areas,” Shahtali said.

He explained that Israel is aiming to prevent the owners of these territories from accessing them and planting their crops there, in an attempt to consolidate their gradual occupation, just the way it did in the Syrian Golan Heights.

At first it imposed new field realities before later annexing the Golan, he remarked.

The new map effectively draws a new border between Lebanon and Israel, which may later be used as the basis of any new agreements or settlements in the future. The new measure must be confronted immediately, he urged.

As for Shebaa, Shahtali explained that Israel had occupied one section of the area in 1967 during a war that Lebanon did not even join.

Syrian forces were deployed there at the time and so, Israel viewed the territory as Syrian, he said. Israel expanded its occupation in the following years.

Shahtali demanded that the Lebanese government take an immediate strong response to the development and file a complaint at the United Nations.