Lebanese Option Party

Lebanese Option Party
حزب الإنتماء اللبناني
Leader Ahmad Kamel El-Assaad
Founded 2007 (Movement)
2010 (Party)
Headquarters Beirut, Lebanon
Ideology Secularism
Moderate Shia Islamism
Liberalism
Economic liberalism
Political position Centre-right/Centre
National affiliation March 14 Alliance
Website
www.lebaneseoption.org

Lebanese Option Party (LOP) (Arabic: حزب الإنتماء اللبناني , in English Lebanese Option, French L'Option libanaise ‎‎) is a Lebanese secular and an economically liberal party, which is also a predominantly Shia political movement established in 2007.[1] It is headed by Ahmad Kamel El-Assaad (Arabic: أحمد كامل الأسعد‎‎), the son of the former speaker of the Lebanese Parliament Kamel El-Assaad and the grandson of the former speaker of the Parliament Ahmad El-Assaad (Arabic: أحمد بك الأسعد‎‎).

Lebanese Option strongly protests the political hegemony of the two movements Hezbollah and Amal Movement on the Shi'ite community in Lebanon.[2] Its platform is more in line with the Lebanese majority March 14 Alliance and greatly opposed to mainstream Shi'ite movements allied with the March 8 Alliance, namely Hezbollah and Amal Movement. But the Lebanese Option is not an official part of the March 14 Alliance and keeps an independent secular status.

In early June 2013, a Lebanese Option activist, and head of the party's student wing Hashem Salman was shot dead[3][4] during a protest outside the Iranian Embassy in Beirut. The protest, organized by the LOP, criticized Hezbollah's involvement in the Syrian Civil War.[5] In mid-October 2013, its leader, Ahmad El-Assaad, called for Lebanon to cut ties with Bashar El-Assaad's government and the expulsion of its ambassador.[6]

References

  1. ↑ Lebanese Shiite Political Party Statement on Hezbollah (from The Daily Star
  2. ↑ YaLibnan article: Ahmad El-Assaad: An alternative to Hezbollah in Lebanon
  3. ↑ قتيل و11 جريحا باشكال بين مناصري أحمد الأسعد وحزب الله قرب السفارة الإيرانية (in Arabic). Naharnet. 9 June 2013. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  4. ↑ Fahd Al Zayabi Lebanon’s Shi’ites divided over Hezbollah’s role in Syria Asharq Alawsat 15 June 2013. Retrieved 29 November 2013
  5. ↑ Karam, Zeina; Yasmin Saker (June 9, 2013). "Anti-Hezbollah protester killed in Lebanon rally against militants' role in Syria civil war". Washington Post. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
  6. ↑ http://www.yalibnan.com/2013/10/16/assaad-calls-for-cutting-ties-with-the-syrian-regime/

External links

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