Violence Against the Future Movement in Lebanon

Dr. Paul J. White

20 November 2014
Lebanons secular Future Movement party (Tayyar Al-Mustaqbal) draws all its
support from the countrys Sunni Muslims. Based heavily in the Sunni heartland in
Northern Lebanon, the Future Movement has come under sustained and increasing
attack in that region from both Hezbollah (a heavily armed terrorist Shia militia
that is part of the countrys current governing coalition) and armed Syrian Alawite
forces, as well as from Sunni Salafist fighters. The anti-Sunni forces are also
frequently supported by the Lebanese Armed Forces (Dugulin/Open Democracy, 1
March 2012). Ample independent country information verifies this escalation.
Australias Refugee Review Tribunal has documented the continuing endemic
violence both in and surrounding El Minieh since at least 2007 (Refugee Review
Tribunal Australia, 5 May 2009). The violence is engendered in the first instance by
traditional sectarian tensions between the heavily Sunni Minieh/Tripoli region one the
one hand, and the heavily Shia adjacent Bekaa region. Exacerbating this
exponentially, however, have been the violent ramifications of the raging civil war in
neighbouring Syria. International NGOs have made it quite clear that the entire north
of Lebanon is heavily affected by the Syrian civil war (Humanitarian Aid and Civil
Protection & Solidarits International/UNHCR, 22 April 2013-17 May 2013).
Between 24 and 26 October 2014 the Lebanese Army battled Islamist militants
behind attacks in Tripoli and the northern district of Minyeh, with the death toll rising
to 27 (The Daily Star, 1 November 2014). The fighting in Tripoli and the north killed
six civilians, 10 soldiers and 11 militants. At least another 48 people were wounded,
including 26 civilians and 22 soldiers. The newspaper observes that the Tripoli
clashes, widely understood as a spillover of the crisis in neighbouring Syria, were the
worst in the mainly Sunni city for several months. The same report continues:
Four soldiers were killed and six others wounded when militants
ambushed two Army vehicles in Jisr al-Mhammra in Minyeh as
the military continued to fight pockets of militants in the district,
north of Tripoli.
Lebanese Army helicopter gunships blasted militant hideouts in
north Lebanon Sunday after fighting between the military and
jihadists in the citys old souks intensified sharply overnight.
Army patrol units launched blistering attacks on militant hideouts
inside Bab al-Tabbaneh, the first time troops penetrate deep inside
the heavily armed neighborhood.
Militants and soldiers clashed in Bab al-Tabbaneh with machine
guns and grenades, causing heavy damages of several apartment
units being used by militants to attack the Army.

Also, 12 civilians were wounded when a mortar was fired near

Bab al-Tabbanehs Harba Mosque. Ambulances that rushed to the
scene couldnt reach the area because of heavy gunfire that
erupted after the crash.
[]
The National News Agency reported that a number of families
have been fleeing Tripoli to the nearby Dinnieh area since
Saturday, as the clashes escalate and the civilians casualties
increases. The NNA said most of those families are originally
from Dinnieh villages, but reside and work in Tripoli.
The era of firing and assaulting the Army and then hiding inside
Bab al-Tabbaneh is over, a security source said, adding that
troops were responding to attacks on their patrols with
exceptionally heavy fire.
Three rigged cars and a weapons cache packed with weapons
ammunition and military gear, in addition to 50 explosive devices
set for detonation, were seized by the Army during early morning
raids Sunday in the northern district of Minyeh, an Army
statement said.
In an unprecedented move for the military in Tripoli, an Army
helicopter targeted the Vegetable Market, where militants are
holed up, with two rockets at 5:15 a.m. Sunday, security sources
told The Daily Star.
An Army statement Sunday said troops pursued operations
against terrorist groups in Tripoli and carried out a vast
deployment in the neighborhood of Bab al-Tabbaneh and its
surrounding.
The Army also blocked the main highway linking Tripoli to the
province of Akkar because of sniper fire in the area.
The Daily Star reports (25 October 2014a&b; 1 November 2014) that local Sunni
Salafist fighters are now supplemented by support from the Islamic State and the alQaeda-affiliated Nusra Front. The report details that two civilians, three soldiers and
at least six militants were killed and 20 people were wounded, including 10 soldiers,
in fighting in Tripoli that erupted on 24 October 2014, which represented an
escalation and spread of such clashes.
On 30 October 2014 (The Daily Star, 1 November 2014), the military detained eight
Lebanese in Tripoli for firing shots and tossing hand grenades at an Army post. The
Army stormed a militant bastion in the Sunni Bab al-Tabbaneh suburb earlier in the
same week. The clashes killed 42 people, including eight civilians.

On 1 November 2014 The Daily Star reported (The Daily Star, 1 November 2014
see Annexure B hereto) that a booby-trapped rocket and five bombs had been
discovered in Tripolis vegetable market on 31 October 2014. The Lebanese Army
continues to unearth caches of automatic weapons in the region, which it alleges can
be traced back to Salafist militants.
Salafists have also expressed violent opposition to the Future Movement. A video
posted on the Internet shows Salafists threatening to burn down all Future Movement
offices.
The
video
link
can
be
found
at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EigUDsIf3w Entitled
(Message of the Fighters in the Bab al-Hariri
to the President in Response to His Latest Actions), the video shows an armed
speaker, flanked by three armed fighters. All four men are heavily masked. The
speaker denounces former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri: You sold the blood
of martyrs, you sold the blood of your own father just to reach power, he states. He
warns of a day of anger, adding that if Sunnis were to be harmed they would burn
down the Future Movements offices in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli. A news
report summarising the gunmans speech can be located on the Web (Alakhbar
English, 23January 2014).

References
Alakhbar English (23 January 2014) Lebanon: Tripoli Gunmen Threaten Hariri,
available at: http://english.al-akhbar.com/node/18359
Dugulin, Ricardo/Open Democracy (1 March 2012) Hezbollah and the Lebanese
Army: cooperation or competition?, available at: https://opendemocracy.net/riccardodugulin/hezbollah-and-lebanese-army-cooperation-or-competition
Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection & Solidarits International/UNHCR (22 April
2013-17 May 2013) Vulnerability Assessment Report: Zgharta and Minieh-Danieh
Districts North Lebanon, available at:
http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/settlement.php?id=190&country=122&region=87
Refugee Review Tribunal Australia (5 May 2009) RRT Research Response. Country:
Lebanon. Research Response Number: LBN34751
The Daily Star (1 November 2014) Army Defuses Five Bombs, Seizes Arms in
Tripoli, available at:
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2014/Nov-01/276150-armydefuses-five-bombs-seizes-arms-in-tripoli.ashx#axzz3HrNxpsRc
The Daily Star (25 October 2014a) Army Battles Jihadists In N. Lebanon, 14 killed,
available at:
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2014/Oct-25/275328-clashes-innorth-lebanon-wound-10-including-five-soldiers.ashx#axzz3HCgvACVC
The Daily Star (25 October 2014b) Lebanese Army Vows to drive Terrorists out of
Tripoli, available at:

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2014/Oct-25/275349-lebanesearmy-tripoli-battle-wont-end-until-terrorists-eliminated.ashx#axzz3HCkmm900