Rifaat Ali Eid ( ar, رفعت علي عيد; born 24 February 1977) is the leader of the Arab Democratic Party as of 25 December 2015. The party has the largest support of Lebanese

Alawites The Alawis, Alawites ( ar, علوية ''Alawīyah''), or pejoratively Nusayris ( ar, نصيرية ''Nuṣayrīyah'') are an ethnoreligious group that lives primarily in Levant and follows Alawism, a sect of Islam that originated from Shia Isla ...

, and its base is

Tripoli, Lebanon Tripoli ( ar, طرابلس/ALA-LC: ''Ṭarābulus'', Lebanese Arabic: ''Ṭrablus'') is the largest city in northern Lebanon and the second-largest city in the country. Situated north of the capital Beirut, it is the capital of the North Gove ...

, in the Jabal Mohsen neighbourhood. Rifaat took over its leadership after his father, former MP

Ali Eid Ali Eid (14 July 1940 – 25 December 2015) was a Lebanese politician. He was the leader of the Alawite Community. He founded the Arab Democratic Party in 1972 and until his death served as General Secretary of the Arab Democratic Party. ...

, 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 2008 clashes, Arabic: أحداث 7 أيار) was a brief intrastate military conflict in May 2008 in Lebanon between opposition militias (mainly Shiite Hezbollah) and pro-government Sunnis, after the 18-m ...

, 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 reform branch movement within Sunni Islam that originated during the nineteenth century. The name refers to advocacy of a return to the traditions of the "pious predecessors" (), the first three generati ...

are like kittens when they are weak, but when they are strong they become like tigers." During the 2011-2012 Syrian Uprising, he accused anti-Syrian groups in Lebanon, such as the

Future Movement The Future Movement ( ar, تيار المستقبل) is a Lebanese political party affiliated with the Sunni sect. The party was founded as a coalition in 1995 led by Rafic Hariri but was officially founded in 2007. The party is led by Saad Harir ...

, 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 legal person, person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felony, felonies, the most serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use the felonies concep ...

had demanded the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

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 ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

n city of

Tartous ) , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , imagesize = , image_caption = Tartus corniche Port of Tartus • Tartus beach and boulevard Cathedral of Our Lady of Tortosa • Al-Assad Stadium&n ...

to avoid legal charges, and is still living there.http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2014/Mar-31/251756-adp-denies-rifaat-and-ali-eid-fled-to-syria.ashx

References

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

See also

References