Lebanese Singer-Turned-Islamist Fadl Shaker: I Pray to Be Martyred by Bashar the Pig

Following are excerpts from a Sunni Lebanese Salafist cleric Ahmad Al-Assir, and Lebanese singer-turned-Islamist Fadl Shaker, which aired on Al-Resala TV on June 7, 2013:

Ahmad Al-Assir: The Syrian people have made a decision: Bashar Al-Assad cannot remain in Syria – even if they have to sacrifice a million martyrs.

Interviewer: So the revolution will continue, even at the cost of a million martyrs, until that man is toppled?

Ahmad Al-Assir: That's right.

[...]

[Hizbullah] began as a resistance movement that fought Israel, just like many of the groups in Lebanon. But the Iranian agenda was to take control of the region, including Lebanon, under the volatile slogan of "Resistance, Islamic unity, and Palestine." They deceived most people, who believed them.

We were onto them right from the start. When I joined some of [Hizbullah's] military operations...

Interviewer: You joined their military operations?

Ahmad Al-Assir: Yes, in South Lebanon...

Interviewer: When?

Ahmad Al-Assir: It was around 1987. I realized that they were exploiting their allies, as well as others, in order to advance their agenda of gaining hegemony in the region. Today, it is not only the Sunnis who suffer from this.

[...]

Fadl Shaker: I called upon the Arab rulers, our Islamic scholars and sheiks, and anybody who fears Allah and has honor: You must support our Syrian brothers, first and foremost with weapons, and not with food products. We are not asking for crates of rice, oil, or whatever.

[...]

Interviewer: Aren't you afraid that your public stance will make you a target for assassination?

Fadl Shaker: I always pray, at the Bilal Bin Rabah Mosque, that Allah will grant me martyrdom. I hope that I will not be intimidated by Bashar the pig, or by his allies in Lebanon. With the grace of Allah, fear will be removed from my heart. I am not afraid to be assassinated. I am not afraid to be assassinated. I yearn for martyrdom.

[...]