The Islamic State and the Battle of Arsal

Lebanon’s official policy of disassociation with the war in neighboring Syria hasn’t kept the conflict at bay.

published by
BBC World Service Newshour
 on September 11, 2014

Source: BBC World Service Newshour

PRESENTER: Now another family is confronting the death of one of its members in the most brutal of ways. I mean to identify photographs that were posted online by the Sunni jihadist group Islamic State which purport to show a beheading. This time it’s not the family of a journalist—but of a soldier. 20-year-old Abbas Medlej, the second Lebanese soldier, that would appear, has been beheaded by the Sunni group, which has been rampaging through Iraq and Syria, but is also reached Lebanon. The country’s official policy of disassociation with the war in neighboring Syria hasn’t kept the conflict at bay. Well joining me now to discuss this here in the studio—Lina Khatib, who’s the director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut.

This interview was originally broadcasted on BBC World Service Newshour

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