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Journal of the Spanish Institute for Strategic Studies Núm. 9 / 2017 http://revista.ieee.es/index.php/ieee 298 Most Lebanese Salafi saw the assassination of Rafik Hariri as a personal attack and felt that the Sunni in the region were being oppressed by the Shiites and their allies. Accordingly, they reached more or less explicit agreements with the Future Movement for the 2005 elections in exchange for supporting the latter. Let us not forget that the Hariri family has a huge influence in areas such as West Beirut, but not so much in the north, a region that is extremely poor and which has been somewhat overlooked by successive governments. Here, Islamic clergymen and their followers play a decisive role in election results, which explains why some leaders of the Future Movement have resorted to religion to mobilise the Sunni electorate. This has facilitated their collaboration with the more radical Islamists at the cost of undermining coexistence in the country12. Many jihadists felt affronted by Hezbollah in the second war against Israel in summer 2006 because the Shiite militia decided to maintain control of the conflict. In fact, this monopoly has caused serious tension because it gives Hezbollah the role of the indisputable defender of the Arab world, thus depriving the radical Sunni of the position13. Another salient feature of these years was the arrival in Tripoli of jihadists with links to Al-Qaeda, intending to make contact with local groups. As the Iraqi Civil War unfolded, the Lebanese scenario attracted the interest of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, because it became a recruitment ground and an occasional refuge for its militants, particularly the north of the country. Moreover, some of the organisation’s acts suggested that it had more ambitious goals, such as the attempted attack on the Italian Embassy in Beirut (foiled by the security forces in September 2004) or the launch of rockets against Israeli settlements in December 2005, which were an attempt to demonstrate its contribution to the self-proclaimed objective of fighting against the West and Zionism. Indeed, this objective would explain the organisation’s interest in expanding its links to southern Lebanon and southern Bekaa. Another possible target was the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which sometimes received threats from the Al-Qaeda leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri14. In autumn 2006, news began to emerge that a new jihadist group known as Fatah al-Islam and led by Shakir al-Absi had been created. It was comprised of several hundred fighters, not just from Palestine and Lebanon but from the entire Middle East, many of whom had previously fought in the Iraq War. The organisation gained a paramount position in Nahr al-Bared. Its mission was to turn Lebanon into a jihad region; it regarded the LAF as a “Crusader army” and was hostile towards the United States, Israel and Hezbollah15. On 20 May 2007 the security forces began to conduct 12  NERGUIZIAN, op. cit., pp. 9-11. ABDEL-LATIF, Omayma, “Lebanon´s Sunni Islamists: A Growing Force”, Carnegie Middle East Center Papers, no. 6, 2008, pp. 1-6. 13  GADE, Tine, “Fatah al-Islam in Lebanon: Between Global and Local Yihad”, Norwegian Defence Research Establishment, FFI Rapport 02727, 5/12/2007, pp. 47-49. 14  GADE, op. cit., pp. 54-56. 15  ALAGHA, Joseph E., “Ideological Tensions Between Hezbollah and Jihadi Salafism”, in MARÉCHAL, Brigitte et al. (eds.), “The Dynamics of Sunni-Shia Relationships: Doctrine,

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