Since the start of the war in Gaza, Israel, Hezbollah and other armed groups in Lebanon I replaced it almost 5,000 attacks across the border. Lebanon is drawn right into a war it cannot afford. However, the country’s weak state has little power against militias operating on its territory.
String overlapping crises over the past decade, combined with political paralysis and an economic recession that has paralyzed much of the country and deepened poverty, has brought Lebanon to the brink of collapse. In the Lebanese capital, Beirut, the shortage of state authority has led some communities to take security matters into their very own hands.
In the Christian neighborhood of Achrafieh in East Beirut, a neighborhood watch initiative formed to reassure residents concerned about crime led to the formation of a non-public militia called (Soldiers of God). Soldiers of God is a far-right group composed primarily of young working-class men who see themselves as “Guardian angel”patrolling the streets at night to keep the community secure.
Beirut is already a witness rise in self-securitisation in places under Hezbollah’s influence and control. The rebellion of the Soldiers of God raised fears that Achrafieh would join this trend, evoking similarities with the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990), when the state collapsed, militants controlled the streets and Beirut was ideologically divided right into a Christian east and a Muslim west.
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When the Soldiers of God go on patrol, this claims to achieve this in defense of the Christian lands of Lebanon against the “danger of Islamism” as well “criminals” and “aliens”.
In Lebanon, people often speak about these “others”. Syrian refugees. Lebanon hosts the world’s highest number of refugees per capita and per square kilometer. For Soldiers of God, the “other” is any non-Christian, but especially supporters of Hezbollah and its Shiite Muslim political partner, the Amal Movement. The speaker of Lebanon’s parliament and a serious figure within the country’s political establishment, Nabih Berri, has led the Amal movement since 1980.
Although the Lebanese civil war officially resulted in 1990, religious and political divisions still exist. In October 2021, members of the Lebanese Forces party collided with Hezbollah and Amal supporters in Beirut, leading to the deaths of at the very least six people. The Lebanese Forces, formed in 1976 because the country descended into civil war, are a Christian political party aligned against Hezbollah and have the most important bloc within the Lebanese parliament with 128 members.
Soldiers of God have played a partial role in stoking sectarian fears and prejudices before. Military Intelligence Investigations showed that members of the group wrote religious slogans and drew crosses in lots of Christian neighborhoods of Beirut the night before the fighting broke out.
The growing polarization in Lebanon has much in common with the polarization of Hezbollah “offensive” war with Israel. According to Soldiers of God, Hezbollah is putting at stake not only the great of the Christian districts of Lebanon by opening a front with Israel, but the great of your complete country.
In January 2024 Soldiers of God took over the flight screens at Beirut’s Rafic Al-Hariri Airport to assert his position as Lebanon’s defender. It displayed a message warning Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah opposes entering war with Israel. The message was:
In the name of God and the nation. Rafic Al-Hariri Airport doesn’t belong to Iran or Hezbollah. Hassan Nasrallah, you is not going to find support for those who curse Lebanon with a war you can’t address. We is not going to fight on anyone’s behalf. You took our port, now you’ll take our airport because of the arms transfer. Let the airport be free of you.
Since then, the division between Lebanon’s Christian and Shiite communities has deepened he grew much morewhich culminated within the assassination of Pascal Suleiman, a senior figure from the Lebanese Forces party, on April 7.
Wael Hamzeh / EPA
Enforcing division
The rebellion of the Soldiers of God recalls darker times in Lebanon’s history, when militias imposed territorial divisions along religious lines.
In December 2022, young men on motorcycles carrying Moroccan flags bits within the Achrafieh area by members of the Soldiers of God. The men celebrated the historic qualification of the Moroccan national football team to the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. As they traveled from west Beirut, a Muslim-dominated neighborhood, they were mistaken for members of Hezbollah and Amal.
The group also uses violence against people it believes threaten traditional Lebanese values and customs. Just a few months earlier, in June 2022, the group vandalized the billboard in Achrafieh, which was decorated with flowers and a rainbow flag to have a good time Pride Month.
Later that day, Soldiers of God posted a video online accusing the LGBTQ+ community of promoting Satanism and endangering their children. And in August 2023, so will the group members attacked an LGBTQ+ friendly bar in Beirut, disrupting a drag queen performance and locking people within the bar while chanting homophobic slurs.
There is real concern growing violence, especially because the Soldiers of God will not be alone. The group has reported annual budget price £260,000 and is closely linked to and funded by: there have been warlords and militia who took part within the civil war in Lebanon.
The Soldiers of God are taking advantage of divisions in Lebanese society to promote their cause. Lebanon’s future is uncertain, however the state’s declining presence and capability have paved the way in which for a return to sectarian conflict as armed groups take security matters into their very own hands.