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Hezbollah prepares to fight IS in Lebanon

The Islamic State and other extremists groups are proliferating along Lebanon's border with Syria.
A father of a Lebanese soldier captured by hardline Syrian Islamists, reacts next to a hearse carrying the coffin of another soldier Ali al-Sayyed, who was beheaded by Islamic State militants in Arsal, during his funeral in Qalamoun, in Akkar September 3, 2014. Islamic State militants beheaded al-Sayyed, one of 19 Lebanese soldiers captured by hardline Syrian Islamists when they seized the Lebanese border town for a few days last month, a video posted on social media showed on Saturday.   REUTERS/Omar Ibrah
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Nothing in Lebanon suggests that better days are ahead. The new caliphate and caliph are both matters of confusion and concern to many. Even those who had never before thought about politics are now gravely concerned. 

“It’s the era of the caliphate,” Mohammed, a barber, tells me. Mohammed has never given much consideration to politics, and, in his words, is “a man on the edge of life. All I care about is working and enjoying.” Yet, Mohammed and others like him have developed an interest in politics and security news. “I have five breaking-news applications on my phone. The Islamic State [IS] is at the borders — they have a bunch of our soldiers and already control part of Lebanon. They are a de facto power.”

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