UNIPATH STAFF
In a testament to the unity and strength of Lebanon’s military, Soldiers repulsed terrorists affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) that had infiltrated part of the northern port city of Tripoli. The October 2014 battle marked a milestone in Lebanon’s attempt to stop the flow of terrorists back and forth across the Syrian border and forge ties with citizens weary of the extremists who had descended upon their city.
Despite the geographic complexity and the overlapping of political, military and security efforts between Syria and Lebanon, the Lebanese military defeated the terrorists without being dragged into the violence in Syria. ISIL and al-Qaida collaborated with a domestic terrorist group to try to turn northern Lebanon into a base to stage attacks in the heartland of Lebanon.
The al-Nusrah Front — the al-Qaida branch in Syria — threatened to ignite violence in Lebanon, but the Lebanese military leadership proved to the world that Lebanon is stronger than the terror plot that tried to spark a sectarian-ethnic war and set the entire region afire.
The Lebanese military’s mission was difficult. The terrorists’ agenda aimed to drag the Lebanese into the long civil war in Syria and weaken the military. Many of the terrorists were not Lebanese, but foreign fighters linked to ISIL and its allies. The professionalism and courage of the Lebanese military helped defeat the terrorists and preserve the unity and stability of Lebanon.
Source: Asharq Al-Awsat