Lebanon: Tensions rise as 10,000 Syrian Alawites cross border

10,000 Alawites crossed into Lebanon over the past five days in attempts to escape the sectarian violence, according to The National News.

At least 1,300 people, 800 of which were civilians, most of them Alawites, have been killed in Syria since March 6th, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor in the UK, in a wave of sectarian violence amid clashes between pro-government troops and opposing armed groups.

Alawite civilians are fleeing to north Lebanon which is where that nation’s own Alawite community lives, amid massacres of Alawite civilians in northwest Syria’s Tartus and Latakia Governorates,

Their recent settling in the northern towns and areas sparks fears by Lebanese security that sectarian violence from Syria’s coast could once again spill over into its volatile north in the adjacent Bab Al Tebbaneh and Jabal Mohsen districts of Tripoli.

According to a Lebanese security source, State forces have deployed a security belt around the predominantly Alawite Jabal Mohsen area.

However, he added that there have been instances of confrontations and that the situation “remains very fragile.”

This adds to a potential rekindling of conflicts as in these regions, Sunni and Alawite gunmen have engaged in deadly clashes several times over the past 15 years.

Tripoli is home to 200,000 people, 80% of whom are Sunni Muslims, 6% to 7% Alawites and the rest Christians. Residents of Bab Al Tebbaneh supported the revolt against former president Bashar Al Assad, while those in Jabal Mohsen backed him.

They have fought frequently since the Syrian conflict erupted in March 2011.

Small radical Sunni organisations in Lebanon have also sent men across the border to fight alongside the rebels during the conflict.

The security source added “the feeling now is that things could explode in the north at any moment.”

According to UNHCR, Lebanon has taken in over a million refugees over the years.

We saw a growing anti-refugee sentiment in the country during the summer of 2024, which got sidelined during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon later that year.

However, with regime change in Syria the following December, there were renewed calls for the Syrians to return home.