Don’t Indulge Tripoli’s Militant Islamists

Tripoli’s “mini-Syria” erupts as militant islamists battle a heavy-handed army. Extreme caution should be exercised to avoid Syria’s mistakes.

10 year old child from tebbané playing resistance (source: LBC)

As people are watching the events unfold in Tripoli, many are tempted to dismiss them as the usual clashes between pro-Assad Alawites in Jabal Mohsen and anti-Assad Islamists in Bab el Tebbaneh. The truth, alas, is that we are now entering a new chapter, one where things are a bit more complicated and a bit more like Syria.

It all started when a 27-year old Islamist, Shadi al Mawlawi, was arrested for “his ties to a terrorist organization” according to Lebanese security forces. As a result, a large group of Islamists have blocked vital roads and roundabouts in Tripoli and demanded his release, with a background of flaming tires and islamist and Syrian revolution flags. At the same time, some of Mawlawi’s sympathisers took their anger to pro-Assad Allawis and got entangled in a firefight that killed 3 people.

The Syrian Virus

Security forces have always rounded up Islamist “terrorists” in Tripoli, and Islamists have always protested the lack of due process and discrimination. But this time, because of events in Syria, things are different.

The Future Movement (FM) has decided to side with Mawlawi, calling for his release and accusing the security forces of behaving illegally. One future MP even compared the arrest of Mawlawi to the work of shabbiha, the pro-Assad thugs who round up and torture Syrian dissidents. Lebanon’s anti-Assad parties seem to be holding a grudge against Lebanese security forces which had prevented an arms ship from reaching the Syrian opposition last month.

On the other side of the spectrum, we have pro Assad politicians and members of the elites and minorities who are calling for an army heavy-handedness that indiscriminately “deals with” the Islamists. The army is promising to be “inflexible”

Danger ahead

So here we are now approaching a situation which resembles what is going on in Syria: A clash that pits Islamists with guns against an army which is promising heavy-handedness. Worse, mainstream anti-Assad groups are indulging the Islamists’ arms and the elites and minorities are so freaked out that they are ready to turn a blind eye to a possible army “clean up”.

We need to step back from this brink. The Future Movement especially should make it as clear as possible that while they sympathise with the Islamists’ cause, they do not condone in any way their use of weapons and their aggressive protests. Similarly, the security forces should become more transparent and follow due process when they make arrests that can potentially cause instability. If such steps are not taken soon, the events could spin into a spiral of violence that nobody in Lebanon has the stomach for.