The Islamic Group, a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, became the first Islamic organization in Lebanon when the Abad Al Rahman Group — founded in in 1950 in Beirut by Mohammad Omar Daouk along with a group of Islamists in Tripoli, most notably Fathi Yakan — adopted an Islamic current. This occurred after Mustafa Sibai, comptroller general of the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria, took refuge in Lebanon in 1952. Al-Monitor recently conducted a phone interview with Azzam al-Ayoubi, head of the Islamic Group's political bureau, to discuss the group's current status and its position on Lebanese and Arab developments.
Ayoubi confirmed that the Islamic Group participated in the first round of elections in parliament to select a president, but refused to disclose whether its representative, Imad Hout, had voted for Samir Geagea, head of the executive body of the Lebanese Forces Party. Sources close to the Islamic Group, however, told Al-Monitor that Hout had cast a blank ballot, in contrast to the March 14 Alliance, whose members generally voted for Geagea and with which the group has been affiliated.