A Syrian rebel group which has sworn allegiance to the Islamic State's leader has set up check-points in the Lebanese town of Arsal on the two countries' border, though it has stopped short of declaring it part of the IS's "Caliphate".
Lebanese army troops have moved up to attack the town, pouring in shells and putting at risk not only the 40,000 local inhabitants but the estimated 120,000 Syrian refugees who have taken shelter there.
The crisis brought a rare show of unity from Syria's competing political factions, with the Sunni prime minister Tammam Salam standing alongside the rest of the cabinet to give a statement. "The attack on Lebanese national dignity will not go unpunished," he said, calling Islamic State's behaviour "sick".
However,
Switzerland makes more than cheese...
the broader jihadist movement in Syria has won support from Sunni holy mans inside Leb, which also has its own branch of the Syrian al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra. Jabhat al-Nusra is also said to have participated in the seizure of Arsal, though a statement it issued was ambiguous.
The immediate trigger for the Islamic State's move was the arrest on Saturday by the Lebanese army of Abu Ahmed Joumaa, the leader of a small brigade in the Free Syrian Army
... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund...
who subsequently declared allegiance to Islamic State.
Arsal occupies a highly sensitive position as a Sunni town on the border, and has been used as an escape and supply route by the mainly Sunni Syrian rebels throughout the civil war. However,
Switzerland makes more than cheese...
it is surrounded by Shia areas that are largely controlled by Hizbollah, which is fighting on the side of the Syrian regime of
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Leveler of Latakia...
Hizbollah has said it will help the army retake Arsal, threatening a long-feared spillover of the Syrian war into a sectarian conflict inside Leb itself.
The army says it tossed in the clink
I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece!
Joumaa because he intended to attack army outposts and declare Arsal an "Islamic emirate".
So far, the army says it has found the bodies of 50 krazed killers, and lost 14 of its own men. More than 22 police and soldiers have been seized by the Islamic State and taken away, as captives or hostages.
The incursion may be linked to renewed fighting on the Syrian side of the border, where the rebels were beaten back in a major offensive earlier this year but have continued to stage attacks, including over the weekend.