Officials mum on Lebanese soldier's defection to Jabhat al-Nusra - Al-Monitor: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Jean Aziz (Lebanon Pulse)

Jean Aziz (Lebanon Pulse)

Jul 31, 2014

Lebanese army soldiers march during a military parade to celebrate the 65th anniversary of Lebanon's independence day in downtown Beirut November 22,2008. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi (LEBANON) - RTXAUIN — Lebanese army soldiers march during a military parade to celebrate the 65th anniversary of Lebanon's independence in downtown Beirut, Nov. 22, 2008. — REUTERS/Jamal Saidi

عربي

Fighters from Islamist Syrian rebel group Jabhat al-Nusra watch snipers on the front line during a fight with Syria forces loyal to President Bashar al Assad in Aleppo December 24, 2012. Syria special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi discussed solving the country's conflict with President Bashar al-Assad on Monday, but the opposition expressed deepening frustration with the mission following what it called the latest massacre of civilians. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah (SYRIA - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS) - RTR3BVVS

Jabhat al-Nusra and Hezbollah In First Confrontation

Jean Aziz (Lebanon Pulse)

Jean Aziz (Lebanon Pulse)

Lebanese soldiers carry the coffin of Sergeant Ibranim Zahraman during his funeral in the town of Akkar northern Lebanon February 2, 2013. Four Lebanese soldiers and two gunmen were killed in clashes in the country's Bekaa Valley on Friday after militants attacked a Lebanese army unit, security sources said. REUTERS/Stringer (LEBANON - Tags: CIVIL UNREST MILITARY POLITICS) - RTR3D9I8

Syrian Jihadist Groups Take Conflict To Lebanon

Jean Aziz (Lebanon Pulse)

Jean Aziz (Lebanon Pulse)

Lebanese army soldier Ibrahim Moustafa Shaaban, who was captured by Islamist militants in Arsal, gestures upon his arrival in Al-Mohamara village after his release, in Akkar August 31, 2014. Islamist Nusra Front, a group linked to al Qaeda, on Saturday released four Sunni soldiers and a Sunni policeman whom they captured earlier this month, including Shaaban, a source close to the group said. The circumstances of their release were not immediately clear. REUTERS/Stringer (LEBANON - Tags: CIVIL UNREST TPX IM

New jihadist generation in Lebanon

Mona Alami

Residents and family members of Islamist militants in Roumieh prison gesture during a protest calling for the release of Islamist militants detained by Lebanese forces, and criticizing the sentence duration of former Lebanese minister Samaha in Tripoli May 15, 2015. Samaha was sentenced on Wednesday to 4 1/2 years in prison for forming a group to carry out terrorist attacks. REUTERS/Omar Ibrahim - RTX1D3SJ

Radical groups lure Tripoli youths

Mona Alami