Salafists (Sunnis) Are Split Over Agreement Signed With Hezbollah In Lebanon

Well, the bad news is that the Sunnis (referred to as Salafists here from the NOW article) have signed an agreement of "understanding" with Shia-based Hezbollah in Lebanon. That is way bad because a united islamist Lebanon will be even more dangerous for Israel. The issue with this Memorandum of Understanding is that there are more than a few Sunnis in Lebanon that aren't thrilled about it. Here's some of the details:

Two of Lebanon’s strongest Shia and Sunni currents, Hezbollah and a branch of the Salafist movement, on Monday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in a formal, highly publicized attempt to end inter-Muslim strife and replace high tension, at times armed, with cooperation.
While one Salafist leader hailed the memorandum and announced that he had signed it with the approval of the Future Movement, the founder of Salafist movement in Lebanon slammed it as a Shia attempt to penetrate Sunni Islam and urged the pro-government Future Movement to issue a statement denying their involvement.

Just a day or two ago I wrote here about how Hezbollah was trying to mend fences inside of Lebanon so they could move more freely within the country when they are at war with Israel. The benefits in the past to Israel were that Hezbollah could be boxed in because they would meet resistance from the Sunnis to the north.

The problem in Lebanon now is that the Sunnis are simply becoming more and more isolated and with Hezbollah's newfound power in the legitimate government of Lebanon, the Sunnis face even tougher times. The real questions will be to see if countries like Saudi Arabia and Egypt will propose some aid to the Sunnis in Lebanon or whether they will let them submit or die.

Salafists divided over memorandum with Hezbollah

Two of Lebanon’s strongest Shia and Sunni currents, Hezbollah and a branch of the Salafist movement, on Monday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in a formal, highly publicized attempt to end inter-Muslim strife and replace high tension, at times armed, with cooperation.
While one Salafist leader hailed the memorandum and announced that he had signed it with the approval of the Future Movement, the founder of Salafist movement in Lebanon slammed it as a Shia attempt to penetrate Sunni Islam and urged the pro-government Future Movement to issue a statement denying their involvement.
The Hezbollah-Salafist MOU condemned the assault of any Islamic group by another, Salafist and Hezbollah leaders announced in a joint press conference on Monday.
The memorandum, which calls for the need to abandon incitement and “confront the American agenda,” said Hezbollah and the Salafist movement would support one another against any “oppression by internal or external parties.”
The MOU denounced inter-Muslim accusations of blasphemy and set the grounds for cooperation between Sunni and Shia movements through the formation of a religious committee to discuss any Sunni-Shia disagreement.
Sheikh Ibrahim Amin al-Sayyed, who heads Hezbollah’s political council, highlighted the memorandum’s importance as it paved the way to solving “controversial problems” and lauded the document as “a courageous step in Lebanon and the Arab and Islamic world.”
“The memorandum will relieve the people who call for unity, especially within the same confession, and it will bother our enemies who wanted to segregate us,” he explained. “The people need to be backed up in resisting the occupiers and the people who are working toward our sedition.”
Sayyed recalled the temporary agreement between the Future Movement and Hezbollah after ex-Premier Rafik Hariri was assassinated in 2005, but noted that he could not wait for a comprehensive Lebanese political agreement, “which might be impossible.”
An active Salafist leader who heads a Salafist-affiliated charity organization allegedly funded by Kuwait, Sheikh Hassan al-Chahhal, said that his movement had only signed the MOU with the Future Movement’s approval.
Yet Sheikh Dai al-Islam al-Chahhal, the founder of the Salafist movement in Lebanon and the head of a branch of Salafism that promotes jihad, slammed the memorandum as a Shia attempt to penetrate Sunni Islam and framed Salafist leaders who signed the document as non-influential and unrepresentative of the movement. He did, however, issue a call for dialogue with Hezbollah.
“This [memorandum] is pro-Hezbollah, pro-Shia propaganda, and it will be detrimental to the Sunnis,” he stated.