ABSTRACT
This chapter provides some background on the history of jihadism in Lebanon prior to the 2011 Syrian uprising. It looks at the propaganda of key Lebanese jihadi groups, supporting ideologues, and media outlets. In Lebanon, the most notable of these groups were Asbat al-Ansar (AA) and Jund al-Sham. The chapter investigates how the Lebanese state and the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) in particular, Hizbullah, and mainstream Sunni leaders have reacted to the recent development of growing jihadism in Lebanon and the region. The rise of Sunni global jihadism in Syria, the influx of more than a million refugees into Lebanon, and Hizbullah's decision to provide active military assistance to the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime has slowly but gradually created security problems for Lebanon. As the most direct effect, the Syrian war has endangered Lebanon's territorial integrity, re-inflamed sectarian tensions, and, for the first time in the country's history, transformed Lebanon into a viable operational space for the "global jihad".
