Schmelzer
Valued Senior Member
There is an increasing number of sources ( http://www.moonofalabama.org/2016/0...from-lebanon-with-saudi-and-turkish-help.html is only one example) who point to the danger of Saudi Arabia and Turkey using Sunni and Wahabi forces in Lebanon to open a new front in the Syrian war.
The point is that with the Jihadi highway closed, and further progress of the Syrian army in Latakia, only Idlib remains for support of rebels and weapons from Turkey. This remains, of course, a support line for some time, but not in the long run. Transporting weapons and reinforcements to Lebanon by the sea seems sufficiently easy now and this route may be much harder to close for the Syrian army than the Idlib one, even if only because the route Lebanon -> Golan (controlled by Israel) -> Syria together with the direct Lebanon -> Syria border is a much larger border than the Tukey -> Idlib border.
So, I'm afraid that the Syrian civil war will be extended to a Lebanon civil war by Turkish and Saudi support of Lebanese Salafists with weapons. Of course, with silent support from the US and Israel.
The point is that with the Jihadi highway closed, and further progress of the Syrian army in Latakia, only Idlib remains for support of rebels and weapons from Turkey. This remains, of course, a support line for some time, but not in the long run. Transporting weapons and reinforcements to Lebanon by the sea seems sufficiently easy now and this route may be much harder to close for the Syrian army than the Idlib one, even if only because the route Lebanon -> Golan (controlled by Israel) -> Syria together with the direct Lebanon -> Syria border is a much larger border than the Tukey -> Idlib border.
So, I'm afraid that the Syrian civil war will be extended to a Lebanon civil war by Turkish and Saudi support of Lebanese Salafists with weapons. Of course, with silent support from the US and Israel.