The war in Syria is dragging neighbouring Lebanon to the edge of the abyss, and nowhere is the growing chaos more stark than in the second city of Tripoli. Watch Part 5 of our new video Warlords of Tripoli
Warlords of Tripoli – Part 1
War in Syria is dragging neighboring Lebanon to the edge of the abyss. Nowhere is the growing chaos more stark than in the second city of Tripoli. Sunni militants aligned with the Syrian rebels clash with fighters from the city’s encircled Alawite minority—who support the Assad regime—in bitter street fighting that the country’s weak government seems powerless to stop.
With the rule of law no longer in effect in Tripoli, warlords like Sunni commander Ziad Allouki are now the city’s real rulers. VICE News hung out with him and his fighters for a week to discover why they’re fighting and if the country really is on the brink of civil war.
Three years ago, an uprising against the Assad regime turned into what looked like a straightforward civil war between Syrian government forces and rebels. However, over time, what had started as a largely secular opposition movement began to take on more of a radical Islamist tone, with two al Qaeda offshoots—the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) and Jabhat al-Nusra—becoming the dominant forces on the ground across the rebel-held North.
One VICE filmmaker managed to secure unprecedented access to both al Qaeda factions battling Syria’s government forces, despite the risk of journalists being kidnapped. This is a remarkable portrait of the foreign volunteers and local Syrians willing to fight and die to establish a new caliphate on Europe’s doorstep.
Syria: al Qaeda’s New Home - Trailer
Three years ago, an uprising against the Assad regime turned into what looked like a straightforward civil war between Syrian government forces and rebels. However, over time, what had started as a largely secular opposition movement began to take on more of a radical Islamist tone, with two al Qaeda offshoots—the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) and Jabhat al-Nusra—becoming the dominant forces on the ground across the rebel-held North.
ISIS’s policy of kidnapping journalists has made it almost impossible to report from within Syria. But one VICE filmmaker managed to secure unprecedented access to both al Qaeda factions battling Syria’s government forces, creating this remarkable portrait of the foreign volunteers and local Syrians willing to fight and die to establish a new caliphate on Europe’s doorstep.
