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Terrorism in Lebanon refers to the
acts of terrorism that have occurred in Lebanon through various phases of its history. According to the U.S. Country Reports on Terrorism in 2016 and 2017,[1] Lebanon is considered a safe haven for certain terrorist groups. Terrorist organizations operating in Lebanon include
Hezbollah, Palestinian militias, and other radical Sunni Muslim organizations. The government was reported to not be in control of "all regions" of the country which includes some refugee camps and its borders with
Israel and
Syria.
The Lebanese state defines terrorism through Article 314 of its Criminal Code, which states that "Terrorist acts are all acts intended to cause a state of terror and committed by means liable to create a public danger such as explosive devices, inflammable materials, toxic or corrosive products and infectious or microbial agents."[2] The UN
Special Tribunal for Lebanon's Appeals Chamber has criticized this interpretation, arguing that the list in Article 314 should be viewed as illustrative rather than exhaustive.[3]
During the Lebanese Civil War, the Islamist
Islamic Unification Movement (Tawheed) militiamen were responsible for several acts of violence in Tripoli against the local cells of the
AlawiteADP and
LCP. In October 1983, the IUM/Tawheed executed a series of terrorist attacks against the Tripoli offices of the Communist Party, targeting Party cadres and their families. In one occasion, Tawheed fighters rounded up some 52 top Communist members, forced them to renounce their
atheism and then summarily shot them, dumping the victims' bodies into the
Mediterranean.[4]
Fatah al-Islam is an Islamist group operating out of the
Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon. It was formed in November 2006, by fighters who broke off from the pro-
SyrianFatah al-Intifada, itself a splinter group of the Palestinian
Fatah movement, and is led by a Palestinian fugitive militant named
Shaker al-Abssi.[5] The group's members have been described as militant
jihadists,[6] and the group itself has been described as a terrorist movement that draws inspiration from
al-Qaeda.[5][6][7] Its stated goal is to reform the Palestinian refugee camps under
Islamic sharia law,[8] and its primary targets are the Lebanese authorities, Israel and the United States.[5] On 21 June 2007, Lebanese State Prosecutor Saeed Mirza filed criminal charges against 16 Fatah al-Islam members accused of carrying out
bombings against two civilian buses that killed two people and injured 21 others near
Ain Alaq, a Lebanese mountain village.[9]
Many Islamist militias have taken base in the Ain el Hilweh refugee camp. Because
Lebanese Armed Forces are not allowed to enter the camp, Ain al-Hilweh has been called a "zone of unlaw" by the Lebanese media.[10] Many people wanted by the Lebanese government are believed to have taken refuge in the camp as a result of the lack of Lebanese authority.[11]
The
Abdallah Azzam Brigades was formed by the Saudi national
Saleh Al-Qaraawi in 2009 as an offshoot of
al-Qaeda in Iraq, and was tasked with hitting targets in the Levant and throughout the
Middle East. Qaraawi is a Saudi citizen and is on the list of
85 most-wanted terrorists that was issued by the Saudi Interior Ministry in 2009. An improvised device blasts outside of the Fakhereddine Army Barracks in
Beirut, leaving one soldier wounded. A man claiming to be a member of Al-Qaida called the Lebanese newspaper Al Balad and claimed responsibility for the attack before and after the blasts.[12][13] During 2013, the group start a string of attacks in 2013.[14][15][16] On 19 November 2013, the Brigade claimed responsibility for a
double suicide bombing outside the Iranian embassy in Beirut, which killed at least 23 people and wounded over 140.[17][18] The group said the bombing was retaliation for Iranian support of
Hezbollah, which fights on the Syrian government's side in the current
Syrian civil war, and warned of further attacks should Iran's government not acquiesce.[19] In 23 December the Abdullah Azzam Brigades claimed a rocket attack in
Hermel, Lebanon.[20][21]
Shia-Sunni violence
Because it is a Sunni stronghold, all major currents of Lebanese Sunni Islamism have been centered in Tripoli.[22] Black banners decorated with extracts from the Quran are prevalent and larger numbers of women are taking up the
niqab.[23] Nearly half of the
Alawites of Lebanon live in the Jabal Mohsen neighborhood of Tripoli and nearby villages in
Akkar, north Lebanon. The
Bab al-Tabbaneh–Jabal Mohsen conflict was a recurring conflict between the Sunni Muslim residents of the Bab-al-Tabbaneh neighborhood and the Alawite residents of the Jabal Mohsen neighborhood of Tripoli, Lebanon from 1976 through 2015. Residents of the two neighborhoods became rivals during the Lebanese Civil War and frequently engaged in violence. Residents were divided along sectarian lines and by their opposition to or support of the Alawite-led Syrian government.
On 23 August 2013 two mosques were bombed in Tripoli, Lebanon. 47 people were killed and five hundred more injured in what has been called the "biggest and deadliest" bombing in Tripoli since the end of
Lebanon's Civil War.[24] Although nobody has claimed responsibility, it was perceived as an attack on the
Lebanese Sunni community, with residents blaming
Bashar al-Assad and
Hezbollah.[25] On 10 January 2015, nine people were killed and more than 30 wounded when two suicide bombers blew themselves up in a crowded café in Jabal Mohsen,
Tripoli,
Lebanon.[26] The
al-Qaeda affiliated terrorist group
Nusra Front took responsibility for the attacks that targeted the Alawite area.[27]
Between 2011 and 2017, fighting from the
Syrian civil warspilled over into
Lebanon as opponents and supporters of the
Syrian Arab Republic traveled to Lebanon to fight and attack each other on Lebanese soil. The Syrian conflict stoked a resurgence of sectarian violence in Lebanon,[28] with many of
Lebanon's Sunni Muslims supporting the rebels in Syria, while many of
Lebanon's Shi'a Muslims supporting the Ba'athist government of
Bashar Al-Assad, whose
Alawite minority is usually described as a heterodox offshoot of Shi'ism.[29] Killings, unrest and sectarian kidnappings across Lebanon resulted.[30]
The Free Sunnis of Baalbek Brigade, also known as the Ahrar al-Sunna Baalbek Brigade, was a
Sunnijihadist group active in
Lebanon. It first rose to prominence in November 2013 when it retaliated against the
ShiaIslamist group
Hezbollah, after clashes between locals Sunnis in
Baalbek and members of Hezbollah.[31] The group is known for attacking the Iranian embassy in
Beirut in 2013 and attacking
Christian churches.[32] On 30 June 2014, the group pledged its allegiance to the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).[33]
In 1983 Hezbollah engaged in three attacks against foreign missions in Lebanon. On 18 April, a
suicide car bomber stole a van carrying 2,000 pounds of explosives and slammed into the U.S. Embassy killing 63 people including 18 Americans.[43] On 23 October, a suicide car bomber in a truck carrying 2500 pounds of explosives crashed through the gates of a
US Marine barracks killing 241 American servicemen and wounding 81. 58 French troops from the multinational force are also killed in a separate attack.[44] On 4 November, a suicide bomber drove a
pickup truck filled with explosives into a
Shin Bet building at an
IDF base in
Tyre. The explosion killed 28 Israelis and 32 Lebanese prisoners, and wounded about 40 others.[45]
It is estimated that between 31 August and 13 September 1983, Jumblatt's PLA militia forces overran thirty-two villages, killing 1,500 people and driving another 50,000 out of their homes in the mountainous areas east and west of Beirut. In retaliation, some 127 Druze civilians were killed by LF militiamen between 5–7 September at the Shahhar region, Kfarmatta, Al-Bennay, Ain Ksour, and Abey, where the LF also desecrated the tomb of a prominent Druze religious man. In total, these "tit-for-tat" killings ultimately led to the displacement of 20,000 Druze and 163,670 Christian villagers from the Chouf,
In Lebanon, the PLO aggressively took control of Lebanese towns were militants attacked Christian civilians. On October 1976 in
Aishiya,[47]Lebanon, more than 70 Lebanese Christian civilians,[48] including at least 7 under the age of 16, were killed the Syrian backed Palestinian factions
Fatah and
As-Sa'iqa during the
Lebanese Civil War. Four people were reported to be executed and one was burned alive.[49] The village was depopulated and used as
Palestine Liberation Organization base of operation.[50]
On 20 January, under the command of
Fatah and
as-Sa'iqa, members of the Palestine Liberation Organization and leftist Muslim Lebanese militiamen entered
Damour.[51] Along with twenty Phalangist militiamen, civilians - including women, the elderly, and children, and often comprising whole families - were lined up against the walls of their homes and sprayed with
machine-gun fire by Palestinians; the Palestinians then systematically dynamited and burned these homes.[52][53][51] Several of the town's young women were separated from other civilians and gang-raped.[53] Most estimates of the number killed range from 150 to 250, with the overwhelming majority of these being civilians;
Robert Fisk puts the number of civilians massacred at nearly 250, while Israeli professor
Mordechai Nisan claims a significantly higher figure of 582.[53][54][55]
Right-wing terrorism
On January 18, 1976, early in the
Lebanese Civil War, the
Muslim-inhabited district of
La Quarantaine was attacked by right right-wing
Lebanese Front. According to then-
Washington Post-correspondent
Jonathan Randal, "Many Lebanese Muslim men and boys were rounded up and separated from the women and children and massacred," while the women and young girls were violently raped and robbed.[56]
Lebanese Hezbollah, or the "Party of God," emerged from an Iranian initiative to unite various militant Shi’a groups in Lebanon during a period of domestic and regional instability, particularly the country's civil war Hezbollah's forces were trained and organized by a contingent of 1,500 Revolutionary Guards from Iran, with permission from the Syrian government. They were allowed to transit through the eastern highlands of Syrian-controlled Lebanon and establish a base in the Bekaa Valley during Lebanon's occupation.[59] As of August 2002, Iran was reported to have financed and established terrorist training camps in the Syrian-controlled Beka'a Valley to train Hezbollah,
Hamas,
Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and PFLP-GC terrorists. Iran has consistently supported Hezbollah's involvement in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, assigning Imad Mughniyeh, Hezbollah's international operations commander, to assist Palestinian militant groups such as Hamas and PIJ.[60] Iran utilized Hezbollah for international attacks such as the 1996
Khobar Towers bombing[61]
Syria was designated as a "
State Sponsor of Terrorism" by the United States in 1979 for Hafez's
occupation policy in Lebanon and financing of numerous militant groups like
PKK,
Hezbollah, and several Iranian-backed terrorist groups.[68] Syria has been allegedly responsible for strings of political assassinations in Lebanon most notably the
assassination of Rafic Hariri which triggered the
Cedar Revolution and the subsequent withdrawal of troops. International investigations revealed direct participation of members in the highest echelons of the Syrian government.[69][70] Even after withdrawing troops from Lebanon in 2005, Syria continued to exert influence through its support of Hezbollah and maintain covert intelligence operations in the country. Several other bombings and assassinations against anti-Syrian figures in Lebanon include
Samir Kassir,
George Hawi,
Gebran Tueni,
Pierre Amine Gemayel, and
Walid Eido.
Former cabinet member
Michel Samaha was arrested on 9 August 2012 for his alleged involvement in transporting explosives into Lebanon, with the help of the Syrian Security Chief
Ali Mamlouk, to carry out terrorist attacks in order to incite sectarian strife and destabilize the country.[71][72][73] Samaha allegedly confessed on 10 August to the Internal Security Forces Information Branch that Syrian President Bashar Assad wanted bomb attacks in Lebanon.[74] According to leaked interrogation transcripts, Samaha allegedly suggested that the planned bombings were meant to target Lebanese Christian leaders in order to raise sectarian tensions.[75] The US government designated Samaha a "global terrorist" for helping the Syrian government, led by President Bashar Assad, launch attacks in Lebanon.[76] Internal Security Forces leader,
Wissam al-Hassan played a central role in Samaha's arrest. He was later
assassinated on 19 October 2012 in which Syria has been suspected for his killing due to his involvement in the arrest of Samaha.[77]
The
2009 Hezbollah plot in Egypt involved the arrest of 49 men by Egyptian authorities in the five months preceding April 2009. Egypt accused them of being
Hezbollah agents planning attacks against
Israeli and Egyptian targets in the
Sinai Peninsula.[81] The arrests led to tensions between the Egyptian government and Hezbollah, as well as between Egypt and Iran.[82]
Europe
On 12 April 1985, the El Descanso restaurant in
Madrid,
Spain was bombed in a
terrorist attack. The
explosion caused the three-story building to collapse, crashing down on about 200 diners and employees, killing 18 people, all Spanish citizens, and injuring 82 others, including eleven
Americans working at the nearby
Torrejón Air Base who frequented the restaurant.[83][84][85] At the time it was the deadliest attack in Spain since the
Spanish Civil War.[84][85] Many terror organizations claimed responsibility for the attack, however the case was closed in 1987 due to a lack of arrests. Only the claim by the
Islamic Jihad Organization was included in the closing summary.[86]
On 22 July 1985, two bombs exploded in a terrorist attack in
Copenhagen,
Denmark. One of the bombs exploded near the
Great Synagogue and a Jewish nursing home and kindergarten, and another at the offices of
Northwest Orient Airlines. At least one more bomb, planned for the
El Al airline offices, was discovered. One person was killed and 26 people were injured in the attacks.[87][88] The
Hezbollah-affiliated
Islamic Jihad Organization phoned the Beirut offices of the
Associated Press to claim responsibility for the attacks.[89]
From 1985 to 1986, a series of terrorist attacks in
Paris,
France were carried out by the Committee for Solidarity With Arab and Middle Eastern Political Prisoners (CSPPA), a previously unknown group, demanding the release of three imprisoned international terrorists.[90] The CSPPA was believed to have been some combination of Palestinians, Armenian nationalists, and Lebanese Marxists, though it was later reported that they were mainly instigated by
Hezbollah,
sponsored by the Iranian state.[91] The CSPPA demanded the release of
Anis Naccache, from the Iranian state network;
Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, member of the
Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Factions (LARF); and Varadjian Garbidjan, member of the
Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA).[92]
On July 7, 2012, local authorities arrested Lebanese-born Swedish citizen Hossam Yaakoub in
Limassol,
Cyprus. Yaakoub admitted to being a member of the
Shi'aIslamic militant group
Hezbollah, who had been tasked with surveilling the activities of Israeli tourists on the island. Israel condemned the incident as an attempted terrorist attack.[93]
on 18 July 2012, a
terrorist attack was carried out by a
suicide bomber[94] on a passenger bus transporting Israeli tourists at the
Burgas Airport in
Burgas, Bulgaria.[95][96] The bus was carrying 42 Israelis, mainly youths,[97] from the airport to their hotels, after arriving on a flight from
Tel Aviv. The explosion killed the Bulgarian bus driver and five Israelis[98] and injured 32 Israelis, resulting in
international condemnation of the bombing. The bomber was identified as a dual Lebanese-French citizen named Mohamad Hassan El-Husseini with links to Hezbollah.
The
1983 Kuwait bombings were carried out by Hezbollah and operatives of the Iranian-backed Iraqi Shiite group Da'wa on December 12, 1983. The targets included the American and French embassies, the
Kuwait airport, the grounds of the
Raytheon Corporation, a Kuwait National Petroleum Company oil rig, and a government-owned power station. The bombings killed six people and wounded nearly ninety more. Kuwaiti officials arrested seven Shia suspects, and Syrians, Iranians, and extremist Palestinians were also linked to previous threats against the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait.[99] Ultimately, 21 defendants were put on trial (17 captured in a nationwide manhunt and 4 tried in absentia). After a six-week trial, six were sentenced to death (three of those were in absentia), seven to life imprisonment, seven to terms between five and fifteen years.[100] Over the next several years,
Hezbollah perpetrated a string of
kidnappings and bombings with the goal of forcing the Kuwaiti government to free the al-Dawa prisoners. Hostage
Terry Anderson was told that he and the other hostages kidnapped in
Beirut had been abducted "to gain the freedom of their seventeen comrades in Kuwait."[101] Hezbollah also conducted two hijackings in Kuwait. On 3 December 1984, a
Kuwait Airways flight from
Kuwait City to
Karachi,
Pakistan was hijacked by four Lebanese
Shi'a hijackers and diverted to
Tehran. On 5 April 1988,
Kuwait Airways Flight 422 was hijacked from
Bangkok to Kuwait with 111 passengers and crew aboard, including three members of the
Kuwaiti Royal Family. Six or seven Lebanese men[102] (including
Hassan Izz-Al-Din, a veteran of the TWA 847 hijacking[103]) armed with guns and hand grenades forced the pilot to land in
Mashhad,
Iran.[104]
On 25 December 1986, en route from
Baghdad's
Saddam International Airport to
Amman,
Jordan, Flight 163 was hijacked by four men.
Iraqi Airways security personnel tried to stop the hijackers, but a
hand grenade was detonated in the passenger cabin, forcing the crew to initiate an emergency descent. Another hand grenade exploded in the cockpit, causing the aircraft to crash near
Arar, Saudi Arabia where it broke in two and caught fire. Shortly after the hijacking, the pro-Iranian group
Islamic Jihad Organization claimed responsibility.[105]
Narcoterrorism
In 2008, U.S. authorities arrested Hezbollah operatives in the U.S. and
Colombia who were involved in a scheme to launder drug money through used car sales.[106]
In 2012 United States politician
Sue Myrick claimed that mounting evidence of
Hezbollah presence in Mexico was ignored by the
Department of Homeland Security.[107][108] These groups became more visible by 2010, when the Tucson Police Department reported International Terrorism Situational Awareness for
Hezbollah in Mexico, noting the arrest of Jameel Nasar in
Tijuana. Nasar had tried to form a Hezbollah network in Mexico and
South America. A report from the US
House Homeland Security Committee Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations and Management tied Middle East terror organizations with Mexican drug cartels.[109][110]
In 2019, the U.S.
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) revealed that Hezbollah had established a presence in
Venezuela to facilitate drug trafficking and money laundering. Hezbollah has also been involved in the production and trafficking of amphetamines, particularly Captagon, which is popular in the Gulf states.
Captagon production facilities have been discovered in areas of Lebanon under Hezbollah's control.[111]
Counterterrorism
Since the outbreak of conflict in Syria, the Lebanese Army has been deployed to prevent clashes from taking place in the city of
Tripoli, as well as in other hot zones such as
Beirut and
Arsal on the eastern borders. In 2014,
ISIS and
Al-Nusra Front terrorist groups established small bases and fortifications in the
Anti-Lebanon Mountains, where they operated against
Hezbollah and the Lebanese Army.[112][113]
On June 23, 2013, intense clashes in Sidon took place between followers of Salafist Sunni preacher
Ahmad Al-Assir and Lebanese troops. Following these clashes, the Lebanese Army was sent in to capture Sheikh Assir's headquarters at Abra and apprehend him. Lebanese Army units fought against pro-Assir militants for two days in a battle that led to the deaths of at least 16 Lebanese soldiers, and the wounding of at least 50 men. Although the LAF managed to secure his complex, Assir was able to escape and was only captured on August 16, 2015, while trying to flee the country on a false passport.
The United States provided significant counterterrorism assistance to Lebanon's security forces. The U.S. has dramatically increased its
Foreign Military Financing to Lebanon to enhance the capabilities of the LAF to counter terrorist threats.[115]
^Dillon, Robert S. (2013-04-15).
"The Bombing of U.S. Embassy Beirut". The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training: Foreign Affairs Oral History Project. Retrieved 8 May 2013.
^Hammel, Eric M. The Root: The Marines in Beirut, August 1982-February 1984. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1985.
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^Hajjar, Claude (January 2007).
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^
ab"Lebanon’s Legacy of Political Violence A Mapping of Serious Violations of International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law in Lebanon, 1975–2008." International Center for Transitional Justice.
ICTJ report. Lebanon mapping 2013Archived 19 October 2020 at the
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^National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START). (2018). Global Terrorism Database [Data file]. Retrieved from
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^Coughlin, Con (2023). "5: First Blood". Assad: The Triumph of Tyranny. 6 Briset Street, London EC1M 5NR, UK: Pan Macmillan. pp. 80–97.
ISBN978-1-5290-7490-1.{{
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^"Cauchemar sur le tarmac" [Nightmare on the tarmac]. www.airafrique.eu (in French). Air Afrique. 2013-10-23. Retrieved 2020-02-25.
^RTS.ch (2013-10-23).
"Zone d'ombre - Cauchemar sur le tarmac" [Shadow Zone - Nightmare on the Tarmac]. rts.ch (in French). Radio Télévision Suisse. Retrieved 2020-10-28.
^Bauer, Alain (2013).
"Hybridization of Conflicts". PRISM. 4 (4). National Defense University.
Archived from the original on 2017-09-26. Retrieved 2017-09-26.
^Bogota, Chris Kraul Chris Kraul covered South America for the Los Angeles Times from his base in; in 1987, Colombia He joined the paper; border, was business editor of the San Diego edition until it closed in 1992 He then began covering the; Afghanistan, Mexican economies until his assignment to The Times’ Mexico City bureau in 2001 He reopened the paper’s Bogota bureau in 2006 He has also covered the wars in; Florida, Iraq He is a graduate of the University of South; News, also has been a reporter at the San Jose Mercury; Union-Tribune, San Diego; Journal, the San Diego Business (2008-10-22).
"Drug probe finds Hezbollah link". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2024-07-01. {{
cite web}}: |first3= has generic name (
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^"teror16.11.xls" (in Hebrew, Arabic, and English).
Ministry of Defense (Israel).
Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 28 November 2014. several declared terrorist organisations are listed amongst many declarations of "association/united group, not, allowed" or, in other words, declarations of an unlawful/illegal organisation – and maybe with other information as well in a large spreadsheet
^Ahmed, Houriya; Stuart, Hannah (2009).
Hizb Ut-Tahrir Ideology and Strategy(PDF). Henry Jackson Society. p. 108.
Archived(PDF) from the original on 2 April 2016. Retrieved 28 January 2016. [Taji Mustafa being interviewed on BBC Today programme] the idea of a Caliphate – a unifying authority for which the Muslim world...which we think will bring stability – these basic ideas of Islam which enjoy popular support, are now being labelled as beyond the pale – as terrorism.
^习近平就我国公民被恐怖组织杀害事件发表讲话 (in Chinese). Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China.
Archived from the original on 21 December 2016. Retrieved 2020-05-23.
^"Archived copy"(PDF).
Archived(PDF) from the original on 30 June 2014. Retrieved 15 August 2014.{{
cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (
link)