Lebanon Border a New Front in Syria’s War
Lebanon Border a New Front in Syria’s War - UPI.com
Clashes along Lebanon’s border with Syria are growing as the tiny Mediterranean country becomes a battle front in Syria’s 18-month-old civil war, with control of the mountain passes used by both sides in the conflict an increasingly strategic issue.
The bloodletting in Syria, where the United Nations estimates 30,000 people have been killed since March 2011, is pushing Lebanon, riven by deep-rooted sectarian rivalries, closer to the brink of another internecine war.
Amid a rash of alleged assassination attempts against Christian leaders, largely blamed on Syria’s murky intelligence services, and the August arrest of a prominent Christian pro-Syrian figure on charges of plotting terrorist attacks at Damascus’ behest, Lebanon’s poised to become Syria’s western front.
Both the Syrian regime of President Bashar Assad and the rebels use Lebanon to funnel men and arms into Syria.
Syria has launched artillery and airstrikes against Lebanese villages and suspected smuggling routes. Several Lebanese have been killed. Dozens have been kidnapped in retaliation for abductions inside Syria.
Heavily armed clan militias, some supposedly linked to Hezbollah, the powerful Shiite movement backed by Syria and its ally Iran, have materialized to grab hostages to exchange for co-religionists seized by largely Sunni Syrian rebels.
The Lebanese army, heavily infiltrated by Hezbollah and which has sought to remain on the sidelines of a steadily deteriorating security crisis, finally had to respond in September and carried out raids on the Shiite Miqdad clan to free captives it held.
The 55,000-strong military has also moved to crack down on smuggling of arms and fighters into Syria. But it’s come nowhere near eliminating it — and may not be able to.