Sunni sheikh Hassan Merheb, April 3, 2023. (Credit: Screenshot of a video posted on his X account)
BEIRUT — On Saturday, an online dispute occurred between Sunni Sheikh Hassan Merheb and spokesperson for the Lebanese Forces party Charles Jabbour, supported by an anonymous account, over the former Lebanese President and leader of the Lebanese Forces Bashir Gemayel who was assassinated in 1982.
Saturday marked the commemoration of the assassination of Gemayel who was killed in a bomb attack that also killed 32 others in Achrafiyeh, Beirut. Habib Shartouni, a member of the Syrian Social National Party was sentenced to death in absentia in 2017 for the organization and execution of the Gemayel's assassination.
On Saturday, Merheb posted the following on X: "Today was, and will remain, a great and unique day with a lesson for all who care."
Following that, Jabbour said that Merheb thinks "his stance is provoking us, but on the contrary, he is proving to all Lebanese that it is impossible to live with a political team whose clerics glorify assassination and murder."
"The disagreement is no longer just over which Lebanon we want, the dispute is against a project that, starting from its clerics and reaching Hezbollah, advocates murder."
Jean Riachi, CEO of I&C Bank, also commented on Merheb's initial tweet, saying, "This filthy man receives a salary from our taxes and is always inciting sedition."
Moreover, an anonymous account, called "Levantine Orthodox," replied to Jabbour's post, saying that Merheb should have "the same fate as Rashid Karami," a former prime minister who was assassinated in 1987.
Later, Merheb said the anonymous account's tweet confirms that the Lebanese Forces "is the party behind the assassination of Karami."
He added that the Lebanese Forces needs to assassinate him, the same way they killed Karami. "I put [the tweet] in the hands of the security and judicial authorities and I hold any harm that I may be exposed to this party and its president personally," he said.
Merheb is considered the most controversial Sunni figure in Lebanon. Once a strong advocate of political Harirism, Merheb has made a 180-degree turn over the past year, moving closer to the Hezbollah camp.
