A liquor store in Sidon was attacked twice by unidentified culprits because it sells alcohol. This has reignited the debate about alcohol in the South of Lebanon. The owner of the shop, Ibrahim Jarjoura, said the store was hit by 2 stun grenades attacks.
We are free to sell and drink alcohol
A man was injured when the stun grenade was thrown into the store. The same store had recently been targetted in a similar attack. Jarjoura said:
I have been selling liquor for more than three decades. My shop is licensed. Why are they insisting on targeting it
A bomb went off in his shop almost a decade ago which led the state authorities to put an end to the attacks. In January, a debate surfaced over attempts to close liquor shops in the Kfar Roummane town in the southern district of Nabatieh. Many of the town residents criticized the attempt. Jarjoura said:
We live in a country that believes in coexistence and I sell to customers from all sects
Extremists are believed to be behind the attack since the shop is only 100 meters away from the Palestinian refugee camp of
– which is known to be a hub for extremist Islamist groups. In the early 2000’s, a group of Islamist Palestinian men were accused of staging a series of bombings targeting alcohol shops in Sidon. Kamal Abdallah, a Palestinian, said that people were free to drink alcohol, no one can interfere with that.”
Source: Daily Star