Hezbollah Brigades vows to attack US forces 'defending ISIS' in Iraq The Jerusalem Post       In a statement released Sunday, the organization claimed: "the United States increasingly intervenes in Iraq's issues with its presence in the Iraqi joint operations command."   Hezbollah Brigades fighters in Iraq have threatened to attack the American soldiers stationed in the country, following the decision by the US army to send reinforcements

"I Just Wanted to be Treated like a Person" How Lebanon’s Residency Rules Facilitate Abuse of Syrian Refugees Human Rights Watch 12 January 2016   Summary I just want to live here in peace and contribute to Lebanese society until I can return to Syria. I just wanted to be treated like a person.-Yusra, a Syrian refugee, northern Lebanon, August 2015 In January 2015, Lebanon ended its previously open-door policy for Syrians, which had allowed

Syrians in Lebanon: 'Glass cannot fit one more drop' Thousands of Syrians in Lebanon are in flux after the government ordered UNHCR to stop registering new refugees Oriol Andres Gallart, Al Jazeera English 30 May 2015 (published on Genocide Watch 01 June 2015)     Beirut - Nour is 20 and has nothing. The house where she used to live with her parents and two-year-old son in rural Damascus was hit by a rocket during a battle between the

Lebanon ISIS Threat: Islamic State 'Emirate' To Be Declared In Lebanon, Says Report Lora Moftah, International Business Times 23 February 2015   Parts of Lebanon may soon become part of the Islamic State group, as the brigade also known as ISIS prepares to declare an Islamic "emirate" in the country, security sources told Lebanon’s Daily Star. ISIS fighters are demanding support from the northern Syrian faction in order to extend the group’s

Lebanon's politics paralyzed by regional conflict By Oliver Holmes, Reuters 13 November 2014 With Lebanon's most powerful political parties funded and often directed by regional powers, the country has for decades been affected by events in the Middle East. But extraordinary chaos is exploding around the tiny Mediterranean state and Lebanon's leaders have tried to isolate themselves as best they can. The result has been a near complete shutdown of

Rivals Tehran, Riyadh pledge billions to Lebanon’s army By Hugh Naylor, The Washington Post 4 November 2014 Saudi Arabia and Iran have offered apparently competing aid packages to Lebanon’s small and modestly armed military as it confronts increasing attacks at home by militants with ties to extremists fighting in Syria’s civil war. The pledges total billions of dollars’ worth of mostly light arms and underscore mounting concern among the

Al Qaeda Affiliate Battles Hezbollah in Lebanon Reuters 5 October 2014 At least 16 insurgents from the Nusra Front, Al Qaeda’s wing in Syria, were killed in clashes with the Shiite group Hezbollahin eastern Lebanon on Sunday as the Nusra Front launched a major offensive, a person close to Hezbollah said. Hundreds of Sunni Muslim insurgents from the Nusra Front attacked at least 10 Hezbollah bases along a mountain range close to the Syrian border,

Islamic State Violence Tests Lebanon's Religious Communities By Asa Fitch, The Wall Street Journal 9 September 2014  BEIRUT—Violence that has spilled over to Lebanon from neighboring Syria has widened in recent days to the country's mostly Shiite Bekaa Valley, where a spate of kidnappings have further tested the restraint of Lebanon's religious communities. The flare-up comes as the recent beheading of a Lebanese government soldier captured

Lebanon/IS: Soldier Beheading a War Crime if Confirmed By Human Rights Watch 1 September 2014 The alleged beheading of Lebanese army sergeant Ali al-Sayed detained by the Islamic State is a war crime if confirmed, Human Rights Watch said today. Photos and a video were posted online on August 28 purportedly showing an Islamic State militant beheading a blindfolded man who is identifiedas Sergeant al-Sayed. Lebanese authorities have not yet officially

Hezbollah leader says stopped ISIL spreading to Lebanon – report By Reuters June 17, 2014 (Reuters) - Lebanon's Hezbollah militia chief said his fighters' intervention in Syria had kept an al Qaeda splinter group that has seized territory in Iraq from spreading west into Lebanon, a newspaper reported on Tuesday. Hezbollah, a Shi'ite Muslim group, has provided significant help to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in retaking some territory from Sunni