Lebanese MP Mustafa 'Alloush has expressed apprehension over the possibility that the recent Alawi-Sunni clashes in northern Lebanon could be used by Syria as a pretext to intervene to protect the Alawi minority.
According to the Kuwaiti paper Al-Siyassa, Egyptian intelligence services uncovered a Syrian plan to invade northern Lebanon; the paper added that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak had hastened to send Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abu Al-Gheit to Lebanon.
The paper noted that Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad had ordered his troops to draw up a plan to take over northern Lebanon on the pretext of helping the Alawi minority, and raised the possibility that the Syrian regime would declare the annexation of the region to Syria.
The Now Lebanon website reported on September 1 that hundreds of Alawi residents had left the Jabel Mohsen neighborhood of Tripoli and moved to Syrian territory.
Sources: Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, London; Al-Mustaqbal, Lebanon; Al-Siyassa, Kuwait, September 2, 2008; Nowlebanon.com, September 1, 2008
