Salafists, State Move Closer To Open Conflict in Tunisia - Al-Monitor: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Mischa Benoit-Lavelle

Mischa Benoit-Lavelle

May 20, 2013

Supporters of Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia clash with riot police at Hai al Tadamon in Tunis May 19, 2013. Supporters of the hardline Islamist group clashed with Tunisian police in two cities on Sunday after the government banned its annual rally and the regional arm of al Qaeda urged it to stand firm against the authorities. REUTERS/Anis Mili (TUNISIA - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS RELIGION) - RTXZSQP — Supporters of Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia clash with riot police at Hai al Tadamon in Tunis, May 19, 2013. — REUTERS/Anis Mili

== TUNISIA OUT ==
Tunisian army vehicles are deployed in Kasserine, the regional capital of the western region of Mount Chaambi, on May 7, 2013, as soldiers continue their hunt for a jihadist group hiding out in the the border region with Algeria. Tunisian authorities recognised that two jihadist groups which the army has been hunting on the Algerian border have links to Al-Qaeda, stressing their determination to take them out. AFP PHOTO / ABDERRAZEK KHLIFI (Photo credit should read ABDERRAZEK KHLIFI

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A man from the Salafist faction holds up a banner that reads "There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the messenger of God", on the second anniversary of the Tunisian Revolution at Avenue Habib Bourguiba in Tunis January 14, 2013. Thousands of Tunisians protested against the Islamist-led government on Monday, exactly two years after the overthrow of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in a popular revolt that inspired others across the Arab world. In the same street, about 2,000 supporters of the Islamic-led

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Mischa Benoit-Lavelle

Protesters shout slogans during a demonstration against security forces seeking to arrest Tunisian Salafist leader Saif-Allah Benahssine over clashes at the U.S. Embassy last week, at the al-Fatah mosque in Tunis September 17, 2012. Benahssine, leader of the Tunisian branch of the hardline Islamist Ansar al-Sharia, on Monday escaped from the mosque that had been surrounded by security forces seeking to arrest him over clashes at the U.S. Embassy last week during protests against an anti-Islam film, a Reuter

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Supporters of the ruling Ennahda party walk past a Tunisian standing guard during a demonstration in Tunis February 9, 2013. Thousands of Islamists marched in Tunis on Saturday in a show of strength a day after the funeral of an assassinated secular politician drew the biggest crowds seen on the streets since Tunisia's uprising two years ago. About 6,000 partisans of the ruling Ennahda movement rallied in support of their leader, Rachid al-Ghannouchi, who was the target of angry slogans raised by mourners a

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