ISIS leader plans to escape to Nigeria

ISIS leader plans to escape to Nigeria

It has emerged that an ISIS leader is planning to flee to Nigeria. Having obtained visa from the Nigerian embassy in Yemen, the terrorists leader and radical Sunni preacher was barely hours from flying to Nigeria before he was apprehended by Lebanese authorities as he was trying to leave the country.

Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir, Islamic State top cleric in Lebanon, was detained at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International airport early on Saturday

He had been on the run since clashes with the Lebanese army in 2013, which left at least 17 soldiers dead.

Al Arabiya reported that  at Beirut International airport, while trying to flee to Nigeria via Cairo with a Palestinian forged passport, a valid Nigerian visa and a new appearance.

In an unverified photo that circulated in the Lebanese media, Assir appeared without his characteristic long beard and a smaller, narrower nose. His lower lip appeared thicker, and his ears seemed different.

Lebanon is one of the most prominent countries for plastic surgery in the Middle East. And now it’s not only a means for celebrities to drastically change their looks, as fugitives are also using plastic surgery to disguise themselves.

A search for Assir was underway since he clashed with security forces in June 2013 in Sidon, a coastal city 40 kilometers south of Beirut. Members of the militia he had formed attacked a police checkpoint next to the mosque where Assir preached, killing three.

The ensuing clashes between the army and the armed supporters of Assir lasted two days and left 18 soldiers dead. Scores of militants were also killed after the army received help from Hezbollah and allied militias, a fact denied by the Lebanese Armed Forces but confirmed by the local press and political analysts.

Assir managed to escape and he was believed to be hidden in Sidon’s Palestinian camp of Ain el-Helweh. Home to thousands of Palestinian refugees, Ain el-Helweh also hosts numerous militant groups from a wide ideological spectrum.

Some of them, such as Fatah al-Islam and Jund al-Sham, are Sunni extremist that supported IS.

After his escape, a military court judge charged Assir in absentia, along with more than 50 of his supporters, with committing crimes against the military during the deadly clashes. If convicted, he faces the death penalty.

The cleric organised followers to fight alongside rebels in Syria in response to Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shia group which backs President Bashar al-Assad.

BBC regional analyst Sebastian Usher says the media-savvy sheikh has been one of the fieriest voices in Lebanon, stoking up sectarian tensions as the Syrian war has raged next door.

Sheikh Assir built his reputation on television talkshows as a self-proclaimed defender of Sunni rights against the Shia movement, Hezbollah, and its backing of Syria's President Assad, our analyst says.

Despite being on the run for two years, he has continued to issue video and audio messages.

Nigeria security is rippling with suspicion of his likely host in the country and how he was able to secure visa to Nigeria.

Sahel Standard revealed that the Nigeria embassy officials who processed the visa without background check may soon be summoned to answer questions while the exact destination of the cleric in Nigeria is also been investigated.

This is coming at a time the Nigeria immigration service announced it has stopped hundreds of Northern Nigerian youths trying to travel to the Middle east to join IS.

Nigeria is supposedly reaching out to the Lebanese government to exchange intelligence on the planned destination and mission of the cleric in Nigeria.

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