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Conflict Incident Report

State Security arrests smugglers in Bekaa

Date of incident: 
July 6, 2018
Death toll: 
0persons
Number of Injured: 
0persons
Actors/Parties Involved: 
State Security

Lebanese State Security has arrested a number of people in the Aiha area of the Bekaa’s Rashaya district suspected of smuggling Syrian refugees into Lebanon, the state-run National News Agency reported Friday. State Security also freed four people who smugglers had detained in order to financially extort them, according to the report, which did not give further details on the suspects or smuggling operation. In 2015, the Lebanese government barred the U.N. refugee agency from registering Syrian refugees and placed additional restrictions on their entry into the country without guarantors, work visas or visas for transit. The tightened measures led to a rise in the number of Syrians attempting to enter Lebanon irregularly. As a result, the Army and security forces have been trying to crack down on smuggling in areas close to the border with Syria.

This security incident was mapped according to the closest possible location.
Primary category: 
Arrest/Detention
Secondary Category: 
Illicit Trade/Trafficking/Smuggling
Classification of conflict (primary): 
Border conflicts (Syrian border)
Violations, disputes and/or conflicts arising between rival armed groups along the Lebanese/Syrian borders which involve parties or militant groups from the Lebanese and Syrian side in both Lebanon and Syria. These conflicts also encompass transnational groups (such as faith-based regional groups, e.g. ISIS, al-Nusra Front) that cannot be considered as strictly Syrian, Lebanese or of any other national entity.
Classification of conflict(secondary):
Individual acts of violence
Violent incidents which do not have a specific or a known political agenda but are caused by the general proliferation of weapons, of trained and untrained soldiers or militants, by the general inefficiency of the Justice system, and past-traditions and histories of violence within society.