Picture Of ISIS Leader Arrested On His Way To Nigeria

Ahmad al-Assir had spent two years
on the run after clashing with the
Lebanese army but was spotted as he
tried to travel through airport
Not even a 70s-style makeover could
help a fugitive Sunni Muslim cleric
flee Lebanon.
Ahmad al-Assir, wanted over deadly
clashes with the army, had shaved off
his bushy beard, swapped his wire-
rimmed spectacles for thick, plastic
frames, and grown his hair into an
unflattering combover.
But he was still spotted as he tried to
slip unnoticed through Beirut airport
after two years on the run.
“He had changed his appearance and
was trying to leave the country,” a
security source told AFP shortly after
the arrest on Saturday morning.
He was trying to fly to Nigeria via
Cairo, on a fake Palestinian travel
document that had a valid visa, added
the security directorate.
The preacher rose to prominence in
2011 with the outbreak of Syria’s civil
war. He urged his supporters to join
Sunni militias operating in Syria and
became an outspoken critic of the
Shia Hezbollah movement.
He frequently accused the Lebanese
army of failing to protect Sunni
civilians.
Clashes between his supporters and
the army escalated in 2013, with an
attack on a military checkpoint. The
fighting, around Sidon, wounded
dozens of civilians and
paralysedmuch of the coastal city.
When the fighting was over, weapons
including rocket launchers were
found in Assir’s headquarters
complex, which included a mosque,
several office buildings and apartment
blocks.