Attack on Rushdie shows divisions among Lebanese Shiites

By BASSEM MROUE
Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — The stabbing of author Salman Rushdie has laid bare divisions in Lebanon’s Shiite Muslim community. It has pitched a few who are denouncing the violence against fervent followers of the Iran-backed Shiite militant Hezbollah group who have praised the attack. One Rushdie defender has received death threats. The attack struck close to home among Lebanon’s Shiites. Rushdie’s assailant, 24-year-old Hadi Matar, is a dual Lebanese-U.S. citizen, and his father lives in a village in Hezbollah-dominated southern Lebanon. Matar’s mother has said she believes her son’s visit to the village of Yaroun in 2018 turned him into a religious zealot.