State Response 2nd Half 2016

In the second half of 2016, there was a total of 1083 incidents that fell underneath our dimension of State Response. Of these 1083 incidents, 911 were categorised as Arrests/ detentions, 153 as Raids and 19 as Dismantlement of Explosives/Demining.

Tripoli, Baabda, Baalbeck, and Saida saw the second highest intensity of State Response in the second half of 2016, with Beirut having the highest intensity level. Focusing in on Saida, 43% of the total number of incidents mapped in the State Response dimension occurred in Ain el-Helweh. Almost 50% of these incidents in Ain el-Hilweh (18 in total) were arrests related to terrorism mostly carried out by the Lebanese Armed Forces Military Intelligence.

Looking closer into State Response, it is interesting to note that more than half of incidents involving Raids (64 incidents) during the second half of 2016 were classified as Syrian Border Conflict, while 54 of the 64 aforementioned incidents were also classified as Social Discrimination Conflict revealing that the Raids were mainly targeting Syrian refugees camps. Fluctuations in the reported number of Raids and Arrests/detentions often coincided with sudden increases in LAF operations which occur in the wake of major national events that threaten national security, such as the el-Qaa bombings.

In response to the el-Qaa bombings in late June, the State responded by increasing raids across the country. (see the visual and bulletin focusing on el-Qaa’s bombings). Thus the months of July and August saw a jump in Raid operations with 42 and 32 raids carried out, respectively, targeting Syrian refugees within the country, as well as Lebanese and other civilians suspected of links to terrorism. Combined, raids mapped in these 2 months amounted to over a quarter of the total amount of raids recorded in 2016.