Lebanon takes steps to tackle violent spillover from Syria
tripoli (Lebanon) — For two weeks now, the rifles have been silent along Syria Street in Lebanon’s Tripoli, an area shot up so often that even memorial posters of men killed just a few months ago are speckled with bullet holes.
Soldiers patrol quiet streets where gunmen used to fight day and night — part of the Lebanese authorities’ most serious effort yet to contain spillover from Syria’s civil war since the three-year-old conflict began in its much larger neighbour.
But while many in Tripoli, 30km south of the Syrian border, have welcomed what they see as an overdue clampdown, they also worry it could falter under renewed political bickering and a backlash by radical militants.
“Traffic is returning, the area is coming back to life,” said Ahmed Qashour, 57, raising his voice as armoured vehicles rumbled past the tahini sesame-paste shop where he works on Syria Street, in the north of the Mediterranean port city.
“But what we want, what we’re asking of the government, is that this security plan continues — that it doesn’t stop.”
Syria’s civil war has divided Lebanon’s politicians, while gun battles, car bombs and rocket attacks linked to Syria have killed scores of Lebanese and revived memories of the country’s own 15-year civil war that formally ended in 1990.
Disputes have been particularly acute over Hezbollah’s move to send fighters to aid Syrian President Bashar Al Assad. Some Lebanese have meanwhile joined the rebels.
The fact that the clampdown is happening now indicates a rare moment of agreement among in- ternational, regional and domestic players who all have an influence on Lebanese politics, analysts and officials say — although there is still plenty of scope for things to go wrong.
“There is an intersection of interests between all parties to have Lebanon stable these days,” said Elias Hanna, a retired Lebanese army general and senior lecturer on geopolitics and war studies at the American University of Beirut.
“You cannot really afford to have Syria, Iraq and Lebanon — this axis of instability — going into havoc.”
Tripoli is a microcosm of the ruptures that have made Syria’s war so toxic and symbolic of how the conflict has rejuvenated decades-old rivalries in Lebanon.
Like Syria, Lebanon’s second city is mostly Sunni with a minority of Alawites. Tensions between the two communities have erupted most spectacularly in gangland-style fighting between two districts on the northern edge of town that are divided by the appropriately named Syria Street where Qashour works.
Residents from both neighbourhoods have fought off and on since Lebanon’s civil war ended 24 years ago, but Syria’s conflict has pushed the violence to new levels.
Until recently, the authorities have been unable or unwilling to stop the fighting, residents say, chalking up the failure of previous crackdowns to disputes between politicians who stood to gain more than they lost from the conflict.
“Politicians were in disagreement, and so when the security plan would come down, the army would arrive,” Qashour said. “The journalists would come and take pictures of them, and then after two or three hours you wouldn’t see anyone.”
But, like other residents, he said he detected a new seriousness in the latest effort, which started last week after around 30 people including an army officer and a 10-year-old girl died in the latest round of fighting.
“This is the first time I’ve been able to relax,” said Fouad Fahed, a merchant at the local market. “Apparently there’s political cover for the army now.”
One of the biggest risks of the campaign is the threat of a backlash from hardline Lebanese and Syrians who see double standards in a crackdown on militants while Hezbollah maintains a militia that rivals the Lebanese army in strength.
Already, there are signs some militants are turning to attacks against the army: car bombs and shootings have killed several soldiers over the past month — common enough in Iraq and Syria but rare in Lebanon, where the religiously mixed army is often portrayed as a pillar of national unity and stability.
On Tuesday, a hardline cleric, Dai Al Islam Al Shahal, denounced the army raids on live television, warning against the military becoming “a rod in the hands of Hezbollah and Iran”.
“I say with all honesty and clarity, that Lebanon is being held captive,” he said, his voice rising in anger.
“Let’s not be in denial, Lebanon is captive. Some want our army to be pushed into following the example of the Syrian army, killing its own people and being led by shabbiha,” he added, referring to irregular fighters in Syria who support Assad.