BEIRUT — A few defections in the ranks of the Lebanese army have provoked some alarm, the latest being soldier Khaled Shmatieh, who defected Oct. 20 and announced his allegiance to Jabhat al-Nusra. Shmatieh announced that he “repudiates this tyrannical and miscreant army before God,” as he put it in a video posted on Al-Manara al-Bayda’ channel, which is affiliated with Jabhat al-Nusra.
The statement included sectarian insinuations and exploited the state of repression and the feeling of injustice that has been growing among Sunnis in Lebanon due to their rejection of Hezbollah’s policies, and especially its involvement alongside Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces against the aspirations of the Sunni majority in Syria.