Al-Joumhouria Discloses Security Report on "al-Nusra Front" in Lebanon

Christina Shatah - al-Joumhouria newspaper

Incoming news about the presence of various bases of "al-Nusra Front" in Lebanon sparked fears among the Lebanese, and prompted the security apparatuses to put in crosshairs, again, the simmering fiefs of Sunnis in Tripoli, Sidon, and Arsal.
With too many poor and deprived quarters-like Bab al-Tabbaneh and Ain-el-Helwi camp-these regions are very likely to explode and to declare political, religious, and Jihadi affiliation and loyalty to the hardliner Salafist movements, as a reaction to the absence of developmental, social, and economic policies the Lebanese state has failed to devise.

A report, al-Joumhouria managed to obtain, relates that the Syrian regime intends to take grip again of Qusayr and that the army is now cordoning this area from the southern side. Here, security apparatuses fear that nearly 12 thousands members of "al-Nusra," present in this region, would escape.

Information reveal that both parties in Syria intend to implicate Lebanon in the ongoing conflict, through the creation of climates and congregations tasked to embrace "al-Nusra" members for dogmatic reasons. For instance, the Muslim Brotherhood group in Shebaa in South Lebanon is pressuring locals, whether by paying money or by trying to talk them into embracing their fellows. This triggered a huge dispute between the tenants and the extremist Islamists in the area.
Information also point out at the meetings held in Tripoli, Ain-el-Helwi camp, and Arsal, under the chairmanship of well-known Sheikhs, in order to implicate Lebanon in Syria's conflict, and establish the Salafist Islamist Emirate on the land of pluralism and coexistence, to defend Sunnis in the face of the Alawite regime in Syria, and prevail the Islamic Caliphate instead.
Security apparatuses are now raising questions about the odds of "al-Nusra Front" on the Lebanese scene; will the Front succeed where al-Qaeda and its subordinates, like Fatah al-Islam and Abdullah Azzam Brigades, failed, especially that it is receiving huge funding from Arab and western countries?

According to the information, Ain-el-Helwi camp is working on attracting big crowds of "al-Nusra" fans, who are backed by unorganized members that share the Front's beliefs inside the camp. These groups are cooperating to organize the funerals of Palestinians who fell in the Syrian confrontations.

Information also report that Jund al-Sham are endeavoring to recruit teenagers to fight in Syria for money. Within this context, Ziad Mubarak from Jund al-Sham, who has funded and geared up Sheikh Ahmad Assir, has sent Mouawiya Zoubeidat and another member of Abdul Razzaq family from inside the camp to Syria.
Both went to Tripoli accompanied by Ibrahim, Ziad Mubarak's son, who handed them to Shadi Mawlawi and Sheikh Salem Rafei, to be trained and then sent to fight in Syria. This drove Zoubeidat's father to call Mawlawi and Rafei to give him his son back, threatening to hold a press conference if his son ever goes to Syria. Contacts were afterwards conducted with the father, from different phone numbers and places. He eventually found his son on some road in Tripoli.

Information also indicate that "al-Nusra Front" is majorly fearing that it would be renounced in case the regime in Syria fell, "because this Front is per se the most efficient group among the opposition factions and it believes in Jihad against the other to establish the 'Supreme Islamic State;' this is why the Front is fully ready to use all means to realize its goals, from exploding cars in civilian areas, sending suicide-bombers, and considering civilians a fuel to the conflict, unlike the Syrian opposition seeking to hold democratic polls and bring forth a radical change in the Syrian political life."

According to security data, "al-Nusra Front" is present in Lebanon as follows:
- Arsal force, under the leadership of Khaled Hmayed, who was killed by the army Intelligence. This force, whose current commander is as yet unidentified, comprises Lebanese and Syrian gunmen tasked with the coordination inside Arsal, particularly with Sheikh Mustafa Hojeiri, AKA "Abu Taqiyeh," who has issued Fatwa hereby allowing to kill members of a Lebanese army patrol in Arsal. Hojeiri is assisted by a group of Syrians; Mohammad Khaled Hijazi, Mohsen Saleh, and Ahmad Rayyes. Arsal today harbors almost 200 members of "al-Nusra."

- Tripoli force, led by Yasser Lababidi, Syrian, assisted by Qassem Hosni, Lebanese, in addition to Syrians Abdullah Mohammad and Ayman Khayyat, known as "Abu Haddo." This force is directly ordered by Bin Laden's successor in Lebanon, Hossam Sabbagh, and Sheikh Salem Rafei. More than 600 Lebanese and Palestinians are included in this force. Its offices, with al-Qaeda mottos and slogans clearly appearing, are located in Abi Samra and Nijmeh Square in Tripoli.

- Ain-el-Helwi force, comprising 250 fighters, is headed by Palestinians on top of whom Ossam Shehabi, who secures the access of Palestinians from Yarmouk camp to Lebanon, to join Jund al-Sham rings that are deployed in Burj Barajneh, Mar Elias, and Beddawi camps. This force is directly affiliated with Takfiris in Yarmouk, that is to say Jund al-Sham.

- Akkar force, which is located in Halba, Qoueiteh, and Akroum, and comprising huge numbers of "al-Nusra" fans. This group is led by Khodr Khoweiled, AKA "Aby Thaer," and includes more than 300 Lebanese and Syrians.
This situation, very likely to exacerbate, is now a burden on the Lebanese security apparatuses, especially that the number of "al-Nusra" members is increasing, every time the Syrian regime manages to control a certain area in Syria, since few options are left to gunmen who eventually flee to Lebanon, namely to Akkar, Tripoli, Kfarshouba, and Shebaa.

But mostly, these groups, albeit not obeying a determined structuring or hierarchy, are watched and under the control of the Lebanese army Intelligence. They have been, and will still be, under keen observation.