Mufti who threatened suicide attacks rejects terror claims

A Syrian religious leader who once threatened suicide bombings in Israel and elsewhere is rejecting claims he encouraged terrorism in Europe during a meeting before an Irish parliamentary committee.

Syria’s pro-regime Grand Mufti Ahmed Badreddin Hassoun makes the comments during a rare visit outside Syria that has triggered outrage from human rights groups.

“They say that I said I will send terrorists to Europe to kill themselves. I don’t know why they lie in their translations,” the top Sunni cleric says, speaking in Arabic through an interpreter.

“I said, don’t bombard Syria or Lebanon. If fire gets burning in Syria or Lebanon there are dormant cells in the world that will be awakened. I feared for Europe,” he adds.

However, a 2011 speech of his available on YouTube suggests otherwise.

Hassoun issued a clear warning against intervention in Syria, saying: “From the first round fired, the sons of Syria and Lebanon will become fighters who will carry out suicide attacks on the land of Europe and Palestine.

“I say to Europe and the United States: we will prepare the fedayeen (fighters) if you strike Syria, because now it’s an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,” he said at the time.

— AFP