More Lebanese Sunnis are crossing into Syria to aid rebellion, officials say [View all]

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Source: The Washington Post

BEIRUT —Sunni militants have been flocking from Lebanon to Syria in greater numbers in recent months to join forces with Islamic extremists battling the Syrian government, according to senior Lebanese security officials.

The escalating role that the Lebanese fighters are playing in the conflict is a direct result of expanding ties between Sunni religious extremists on both sides of the border and has raised concerns in Lebanon about a renewal of sectarian tensions.

At the forefront of the growing Sunni alliance is the al Nusra Front ,a militant group thought to have links to al-Qaeda that the U.S. government has labeled a foreign terrorist organization, according to senior Lebanese security officials.

The al Nusra militants have established links with extremist cells mostly based out of Tripoli, Lebanon’s second-largest city, which has long been a hotbed of Sunni militancy.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/closer-ties-emerge-between-sunni-militants-from-lebanon-and-syria-officials-say/2013/01/26/451f0bec-66f9-11e2-9e1b-07db1d2ccd5b_story.html