[79] Future Movement MP Okab Sakr was long suspected to be involved in aiding the insurgents in the Syrian civil war.

[80] At first he denied his involvement, but admitted it when Al Akhbar published audio tapes of him making arms deals with Syrian insurgents.

[85][86][87] From the inception of the violence that began in Syria as a result of the Arab Spring, the Syrian civil war has produced and inspired a great deal of strife and unrest among armed factions.

Prior to the Battle of Arsal in August 2014, the Lebanese Army has tried to keep out of it and the violence has been mostly between various factions within the country and overt Syrian involvement has been limited to airstrikes and occasional accidental incursions.

[93] On 22 September, ISIL emir Imad Yassin was arrested at the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp and sentenced to 160 years in prison.

[96] ISIL commander Ahmad Youssef Amoun was arrested along with 10 other militants on 24 November after a military operation by the Lebanese Army on a temporary headquarter of the group near Arsal.

[98] On 21 July 2017, a Syrian Army commander stated that his forces and Hezbollah had launched a joint campaign to recapture the remaining territory under militant control near the Lebanon-Syria border, attacking the outskirts of Arsal.

[99] On 22 July 2017, Hezbollah officials claimed to have recaptured key points near the border, including the strategic hilltop of Dhahr al-Huwa, a former Tahrir al-Sham (al-Nusra) base.

The Lebanese Army stated that by June 2016, about 500 ISIL and Nusra militants had been killed and 700 captured in the border area of Lebanon and Syria.

[106] The Future Movement called for Mikati to immediately resign, claiming his cabinet had shown incapability to maintain the country's security.

[109] He added: "The cabinet work is not a priority compared to what the country is witnessing when it comes to exposure to the Syrian crisis and attempts to transfer it to Lebanon.

"[110] An Nahar cited unnamed "western diplomatic sources" as stating that these incidents were the beginning of a Salafist revolution aimed at arming the uprising in Syria.

The Future Movement's former MP Mustafa Alloush said after regular weekly meeting: "It is actually an attempt to make of Tripoli a zone of terrorism.

"[113] Calls by Rifaat Eid, the head of the Arab Democratic Party, for a return of the Syrian army to Tripoli to impose security in the city were rejected by Prime Minister Najib Mikati.

Bilal Saab, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, argued that Lebanon's handling of the Syrian crisis was a good sign for the domestic stability of the country and U.S. policies.

In addition to noting the large improvements in troop and equipment quality over the preceding decade (partly thanks to American funding), Saab also noted that the battles solidified the legitimacy of the Lebanese Army as a defender of the country, earning it positive publicity among the country's northern regions and detracting from the influence of Hezbollah.