New front in extremist conflict opens in Lebanon as Islamic State harasses border

An explosive new front line with Islamic extremists is growing in Lebanon, it has emerged, dragging yet another nation into the deadly conflict ravaging the Middle East.

Lebanese soldiers and Shiite Hezbollah guerillas are increasingly pulled into deadly fighting with the Sunni militants along the country's border with Syria.

The US has been speeding up delivery of small ammunition to shore up Lebanon's army. But recent cross-border attacks, the beheading of Lebanese soldiers by Islamic State fighters, and the defection of four others to the extremists has sent shockwaves through the Mediterranean country, eliciting fear of a potential slide into the kind of militant, sectarian violence afflicting both Syria and Iraq, and increasingly prompting minorities to take up arms.

Unlike in Syria or Iraq, the al-Qaeda breakaway group Islamic State does not hold territory in Lebanon. But along with Syria's al-Qaeda affiliate, the Nusra Front, it has established footholds in remote mountains along Lebanon's remote eastern border, from where it launches almost daily incursions.

Jihadi recruitment in impoverished Sunni areas of northern Lebanon is on the rise, and black Islamic State group flags fly freely in some areas, reflecting pockets of growing support for the radical group.

"Lebanon is in the eye of the storm," said Fadia Kiwan, a political science professor at Beirut's St. Joseph University.