TRIPOLI, Lebanon, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- Syria has moved thousands of troops to its border with Lebanon, sparking fears it is seeking to re-establish its influence in the country, local media reported.
Beirut's As-Safir newspaper reported the movement of 3,000 troops over the weekend, the Jerusalem Post said Monday. Syria said the troop buildup is meant to guard against drug smuggling and other criminal activity, including an upsurge of al-Qaida-linked extremism emanating from Tripoli and nearby Lebanese refugee camps.
Syria moved 10,000 troops into the area in September in exercises personally overseen by President Bashir Assad. That troop movement was quickly followed by a car bomb that killed 17 people in Damascus.
Syria expert Barry Rubin told the Post he dismisses the idea that Syria is merely responding to jihadis in Lebanon "since Syria is sponsoring most of the jihadi groups" there. Instead, he said, the troop deployment is "an escalation of Syrian pressure on Lebanon to ensure that the country moves steadily back under Syrian control."
