BY A ALABED
If its true that Lebanon ist the Middle East and all of its problems concentrated into one country, Tripoli is Lebanon concentrated into one (not that tiny) city. Tripoli is notoriously infamous for clashes between Shia and Sunni Muslims, clashes that since the eruption of the Syria's civil war have intesified with the Alawite and Sunni citizens of Tripoli flocked together on opposite sides, with Sunnis supporting the Syrian opposition and Alawites mainly being allied with their brother in faith Bashar al-Assad.
Walking down Syria Road, the implicit demarcation line separating the Alawite community of Jabal Mohsen and its Sunni counterpart Bab el-Tabbaneh, the atmosphere the unprejudiced visitor experiences is electric. It's the calm before the storm, which is going to burst at nighttime, the forerunners of which are conspicuous, though. In Tripoli's derelict neighborhoods it's in the hours after dusk when the tension that has been building up during the day is finally released. As a rule this realese of pressure comes with a characteristic, more or less intense explosion. Of this explosion, Syria Road is usually the epicenter.
With the eruption of the Syrian civil war the lingering hatred in this part of town has once again blown up in violence, after years of ostensible tranquility. With a significant difference: What used to be a Lebanese issue, has now gained a transnational dimension. In 2015, residents of the primarily Sunni Mankoubeen neighborhood blew themselves up in front of an Alawite-owned cafè in Jabhel Mouhsen killing nine and seriously injuring 30 people. Which is heinous, but has happened before. This time, however, Jabhat-an Nusra, al-Qaeda affiliate, declared its authorship. Jabhat an-Nusra is Syrian. The conflict thus suddenly puts in jeopardy not only the lives of innocent citizens (if it weren't already enough), but poses a threat to Lebanese national integrity.
"Jabhat an-Nusra has been recruiting in Mankoubeen and Bab el-Tabbaneh, but also in other low-income Sunni neighborhoods for years", tells us a Bab el-Tabbaneh resident "and many young men have enthusiastically answered their call." In Tripoli's chronically neglected neighborhoods the state is something that many young people only know from hearsay; rule of law an alien concept. With the assiduously culltivated hatred towards the Alawite community and its protecting power, the Syrian regime, rendering it exceptionally easy for al-Nusra to coax Tripolis' prospectless youth into joining their cult of rancor and death.
With Tripoli being in many ways the mirror of the nation, Lebanon more and more risks to be soaked into the vortex of violence and death spilling over from Syria. Jabhat an-Nusra, in contrast to Deash, has the potential to appeal to many young male working-class Sunni Lebanese. Presenting itself as a moderate and more humane alternative to Daesh's black "angels of death" Jabhat an-Nusra (or abbreviated JAN) tries to present itself as the "reasonable alternative" to Daesh and the Syrian regime, successfully absorbing more moderate Islamist factions. In early 2015, al-Qaeda leader al-Zawahiri, instructed JAN and its leader al-Julani to better integrate the movement within the Syrian revolution and its people and to cease any activity linked to attacking the West, ostensibly alikening JAN to the many other Islamist movements operating on Syrian soil.
Their final aim is another one though.
Ahmad (names changed), from Tripoli's Bab e-Toubanneh, has first hand experience with the butchers of JAN. His own son, Muhammad, is one of them. "Muhammad was an average Lebanese youngster, interested in soccer, girls and only hardlly religious. Then he lost his work at a local cafè and everything changed. He lost interest in going out with his friends, started frequenting the mosque and increasingly railed against the Alawites in Jabhal Mohsen. I thought it was just a phase. It wasn't. One morning I walk up and he was gone." Ahmad hasn't heard of his son since. All he knows is what's written on the note his son left before departing. That he's somewhere in Syria, joining his JAN brothers in their jihad against the kaffir Syrian regime.
Probably he's somewhere in Idlib province, JAN's Syrian heartland. It's in Idlib province where JAN has offered a sample of what its rule is going to be like. In June 2015, fighters of al-Nusra massacred 20 Druze villagers, destroying their shrines and forcing the remaining population to convert to Sunniism. Also JAN is known to carry out both large-scale beheadings and lapidatons, even if they do not broadcast and glorify them like Daesh. JAN has frequently stated that it's ultimate aim is to introduce an Islamic emirate based on Sharia law in all of Syria. Essentially the only difference to Daesh is that JAN endorses a more gradual approach in achieving this goal. Meaning first brain-washing, then sharia.
Yet this strategy may turn out just all right for JAN. The movement seems to have strong advocates in some of the Gulf countries, especially in Qatar. "Foreign Policy" repeatedly accused the Qatari-owned "al-Jazeera" to whitewash al-Nusra in an attempt to make it more acceptable to a broader audience.
Al-Jazeera is also watched in Tripolis' Bab el-Tabbaneh neighborhood. And its also watched by Ahmad. Who is left speechless. "I do not think that they have grasped the seriousness of the threat that JAN poses not only to Syria, but Lebanon and the entire Arab world, including Qatar."
Judging from JAN's record, one gets the impression that he might be right.
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