Sheikh Khaled Hoblos, an imam released from prison after 11 years, received as a hero in Tripoli, on Tuesday, May 12, 2026. (Credit: Michel Hallak)
Sheikh Khaled Hoblos, released Tuesday from Roumieh Prison (Metn), where he had spent nearly 11 years, was welcomed as a hero in Tripoli before returning to his village of Bhanin, in the Minyeh district (northern Lebanon), our correspondent reports.
An extremist imam of the Haroun Mosque in Minyeh, Hoblos had been arrested in April 2015 in Tripoli by the Internal Security Forces (ISF). He had been in hiding since the bloody clashes between jihadists and the Lebanese Army in Bhanin in October 2014, in which he took part.
On Tuesday, the sheikh was greeted by a jubilant crowd in Tripoli, amid religious slogans and cheers of joy. He was even lifted onto shoulders and treated as a hero. In a brief speech, Hoblos declared: "They detained me for 15 years on the grounds that I harbored Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir... I say to them today, if I had to do it again, I would harbor Sheikh al-Assir a thousand times over."
Assir was a Sunni preacher in the Saida region. He is also currently on trial in a case involving clashes with the army. Both sheikhs were staunch supporters of the Syrian revolution against the former regime of Bashar al-Assad.
The release of Sheikh Hoblos comes at a time when debate continues over a general amnesty law.
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