Rifaat Ali Eid (; born 24 February 1977) is a Lebanese politician who is the leader of the Arab Democratic Party. The party has the largest support of Lebanese

Alawites Alawites () are an Arab ethnoreligious group who live primarily in the Levant region in West Asia and follow Alawism, a sect of Islam that splintered from early Shia as a ''ghulat'' branch during the ninth century. Alawites venerate Ali ...

, and its base is

Tripoli, Lebanon Tripoli ( ; , , ; , ; see #Names, below) is the largest and most important city in North Lebanon, northern Lebanon and the second-largest city in the country. Situated north of the capital Beirut, it is the capital of the North Governorate ...

, in the Jabal Mohsen neighbourhood. Rifaat took over its leadership after his father, former MP Ali Eid, died in 2015. He led the party through the Bab Al-Tabbaneh-Jabal Mohsen clashes that have repeatedly happened from 2008 onwards, and has supported inhabitants of Jabal Mohsen financially when they could not go to work because of armed conflicts. During the

2008 Lebanon conflict The 2008 Lebanon conflict (or the 7 May clashes; Arabic: أحداث 7 أيار) was a brief intrastate military conflict in May 2008 in Lebanon between Hezbollah and pro-government Sunnis. After the 18-month-long political crisis spiralled out ...

, where Sunnis and Shias fought throughout Lebanon, Rifaat said in an interview, "We're the most convenient targets, the stand-in for Hezbollah, our problem can only be solved when the Shiites and Sunnis solve theirs." He stated that Alawites in Tripoli do not have problems with Sunnis, but have to protect themselves when they are attacked. He also stated, "The

Salafis The Salafi movement or Salafism () is a fundamentalist revival movement within Sunni Islam, originating in the late 19th century and influential in the Islamic world to this day. The name "''Salafiyya''" is a self-designation, claiming a retur ...

are like kittens when they are weak, but when they are strong they become like tigers." During the Syrian Uprising, he accused anti-Syrian groups in Lebanon, such as the

Future Movement The Future Movement () is a Lebanese political party affiliated with the Sunni sect. The party was founded as a coalition in 1995 led by Rafic Hariri which was known as the Hariri Bloc but was officially founded in 2007. The party is led by Saad ...

, of funding and equipping Islamists in Tripoli. He believes the Alawites in Lebanon are attacked in revenge for events in Syria, and that the Syrian army can protect Lebanese Alawites against attacks from armed Islamists, since the Lebanese army is ineffective against them. On 10 April 2014, an

indictment An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felonies, the most serious criminal offense is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use that concept often use that of an ind ...

demanded the death penalty for Rifaat Eid and three senior Jabal Mohsen fighters. Eid's pro-Damascus Arab Democratic Party, the main faction in Jabal Mohsen, participated in more than 20 rounds of deadly sectarian fighting with gunmen from the neighboring Bab al-Tabbaneh district between 2008 and 2014. Eid had fled the country to

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

n city of

Tartous Tartus ( / ALA-LC: ''Ṭarṭūs''; known in the County of Tripoli as Tortosa and also transliterated from French Tartous) is a major port city on the Mediterranean coast of Syria. It is the second largest port city in Syria (after Latakia), an ...

to avoid legal charges, and is still living there.ADP denies Rifaat Eid fled to Syria
''The Daily Star''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eid, Rifaat Arab Democratic Party (Lebanon) politicians Leaders of political parties Lebanese Alawites Lebanese Arab nationalists Living people 1977 births Politicians from Tripoli, Lebanon Lebanese criminals Lebanese warlords

See also

References