Hezbollah Prepares for Attacks by Jabhat al-Nusra in Lebanon
As Jabhat al-Nusra’s presence grows in Lebanon’s Sunni strongholds, Hezbollah braces itself for potential combat, writes an Al-Monitor correspondent in Beirut.
The latest statement released by Jabhat al-Nusra threatening to launch harsh strikes against Hezbollah, in Beirut in the city’s southern suburb and across Lebanon, is being taken seriously at the national security level and by Hezbollah.
It can no longer be denied that Jabhat al-Nusra has found fertile ground in the Palestinian refugee camps in the country, among the nearly one million Syrian refugees there, as well as in Lebanese Sunni areas, especially in northern Lebanon near the Syrian border.
According to sources close to Hezbollah, there are several possible scenarios that Jabhat al-Nusra might implement in Lebanon in response to the party’s participation in battles to protect the Sayyida Zeinab shrine in Damascus and expel the Syrian opposition from the strategic city of al-Qusayr and its countryside.
One scenario involves suicide bombers in public squares in Beirut’s southern suburbs, a predominantly Shiite area and a Hezbollah popular and political stronghold. Hezbollah recently ordered strict, yet low-key protective measures around mosques, hussainias and public markets in the southern suburbs. These include Hezbollah security members conducting night patrols in most neighborhoods accompanied by dogs trained to detect explosives.
