“Civilians are forming patrols to protect the borders in places like al-Qaa and Ras Baalbek,” said a source in the Defense Ministry that chose to remain anonymous, as he wasn’t authorized to speak to the media. “What they are doing is in coordination with the local municipality and the governor of the Bekaa, so it’s half-legal, let’s say.”
The war in Syria has dragged on for almost three years now, producing so many casualties that the United Nations recently suspended counting at 100,000 dead. Despite Syria’s influence on its diminutive neighbor, Lebanon has only seen pockets of violence, occasional clashes usually limited to specific neighborhoods in Tripoli and increasingly regular car-bomb attacks. But with reports and occasional grainy videos trickling out of Syria depicting the brutal violence there, some of it sectarian, religious minorities in Lebanon are concerned by the threat posed from Islamist radicals working to establish an Islamic caliphate in Syria and beyond.
Ras Baalbek and al-Qaa are two of Lebanon’s largest Christian villages, inhabited predominately by Greek Catholics and located on the northeast border with Syria. To date, locals say Ras Baalbek has yet to experience any incidents involving armed groups. The Lebanese army is stationed at the village entrance and has conducted searches of the homes of Syrians who have recently taken up residence there. Despite the relative security, locals are still concerned with developments just across the border.
Read more here:
Christian villages on Lebanon-Syria border beef up security - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East
The war in Syria has dragged on for almost three years now, producing so many casualties that the United Nations recently suspended counting at 100,000 dead. Despite Syria’s influence on its diminutive neighbor, Lebanon has only seen pockets of violence, occasional clashes usually limited to specific neighborhoods in Tripoli and increasingly regular car-bomb attacks. But with reports and occasional grainy videos trickling out of Syria depicting the brutal violence there, some of it sectarian, religious minorities in Lebanon are concerned by the threat posed from Islamist radicals working to establish an Islamic caliphate in Syria and beyond.
Ras Baalbek and al-Qaa are two of Lebanon’s largest Christian villages, inhabited predominately by Greek Catholics and located on the northeast border with Syria. To date, locals say Ras Baalbek has yet to experience any incidents involving armed groups. The Lebanese army is stationed at the village entrance and has conducted searches of the homes of Syrians who have recently taken up residence there. Despite the relative security, locals are still concerned with developments just across the border.
Read more here:
Christian villages on Lebanon-Syria border beef up security - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East
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