Syria’s Conflict May Already Be in Lebanon
Following recent conflict in Lebanon’s Ein el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, it is becoming ever more apparent that Syria’s conflict, as represented between Jabhat al-Nusra and Hezbollah, is already in Lebanon.
The Lebanese security authorities received information this month that the emir of Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria, Abu-Mohammad al-Golani, recently visited the Ein el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon. The information added that he held meetings with Salafist groups that support his front, most notably Fatah al-Islam and Jund al-Sham, which resulted in an agreement to carry out military operations against Hezbollah and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). According to informed sources, the information was obtained from Western sources and details related to it are currently being probed.
A military source in the Lebanese intelligence services told Al-Monitor that they have reason to believe that the person who visited the camp was a representative of Golani, not Golani himself.
However, information available to the Lebanese security bodies — both the official ones or those belonging to Hezbollah — possess information and analytical reports indicating that Jabhat al-Nusra might carry out bombings against Hezbollah sites and other targets in response to the latter’s military participation in Qusair and its countryside.
Information obtained by the Lebanese security services corresponding with that of foreign intelligence apparatuses — both obtained from sources close to the Syrian opposition — indicates that Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria has decided to transfer the fight to Lebanon, adopting rules of engagement different than those in Syria. The aim is to launch retaliatory strikes against Hezbollah, and gradually shift the conflict into some kind of long-term war against it.
