Report: IS Turns Eye to Akkar Again
Western security officials have warned that the Islamic State extremist group began mulling once again to transfer the battle from the outskirts of the northeastern border town of Arsal to the northern district of Akkar.
The officials, according to al-Akhbar daily published on Tuesday, said that the IS is eyeing Akkar and planning on renewing its strategy to create a passage to Lebanon's coastline by linking the Syrian Qalamoun mountains with Arsal and Akkar.
The newspaper said that a U.S. security delegation has recently visited Akkar out of fears that there would be a battle in the future in that area.
There are also fears that the IS would revive its sleeper cells in the North to control the villages of Akkar and guarantee a safe passage for the jihadist group to the coast.
Army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji said in 2014 that the IS wanted to ignite civil war in Lebanon and create the passage to the coastline in the North.
The IS threat first came to Lebanon in August 2014, two months after the group's summer blitz in which it seized large swaths of territory in Iraq and Syria. In a surprise attack, the IS and al-Nusra Front militants crossed over from Syria and overran Arsal, hitting Lebanese army positions and killing nearly 20 soldiers.
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