Hezbollah, FPM form Christian armed group in Jezzine

JEZZINE, Lebanon: Hezbollah has established a new largely Christian armed group in Jezzine that has been compared to the Resistance Brigades in Sidon, drawing members from the party’s ally, the Free Patriotic Movement, security sources told The Daily Star. The Christian Resistance Brigades, as they have been dubbed, was created on the pretext of preparing for the threat posed by ISIS to Christians in the Levant.

However, the sources insisted that Hezbollah deliberately recruited Christian youth from the FPM in order to create an acceptable façade for the group, which is in fact controlled by Hezbollah.

Jezzine MP Ziad Aswad, a member of the FPM, couldn’t be reached for comment.

According to the sources, more than 60 members have been trained and divided into subgroups tasked with discreetly guarding the towns of Jezzine, Ain Majdaline and others at night.

Each member reportedly receives a monthly allowance of $500 and is supplied with a rifle, military clothing and ammunition.

Until now, between 60 and 70 rifles have been provided for the members of the Jezzine Brigades, the source said. Hezbollah is reportedly aiming to recruit at least 200 members, who are expected to patrol the Christian towns and villages of the area.

The decision to establish the brigades was made during a series of bilateral meetings between Hezbollah and the FPM at the house of an FPM official, identified only by his initials as N.N.

The two parties, according to the sources, have agreed that the FPM-affiliated brigades would take the responsibility for guarding the district’s Christian towns.

Monitoring other religiously mixed areas would be divided between the FPM and Hezbollah.

Hezbollah pursued a similar strategy when it set up the Resistance Brigades in Sidon in 2009, recruiting Sunni allies into the group, which later sparked controversy when clashes erupted between the brigades and locals.

The brigades underwent short trainings in areas controlled by Hezbollah, which decided when to deploy them and to what purpose.

Some Jezzine officials have condemned the formation of the brigades as an act of “self security,” accusing Hezbollah of exploiting Christian fears to establish its own armed group.

They also accused March 8-affiliated media of sensationalizing the arrest of Syrian refugees in Jezzine and Bkassine, claiming they were extremists, in order to justify the creation of the paramilitary brigades.

Last Wednesday, 12 Syrian nationals were detained in Bkassine. Some media reported that they were found with weapons and ammunition, and belonged to the Nusra Front and ISIS.

However, it was later revealed that this information was false and that the Syrians were arrested for lacking proper residency documents. The local sources said they believed the misinformation was intended to spread fear and justify the establishment of the brigades.