Summary
Lebanese make up a majority of Australian Islamists fighting alongside radical organizations in Iraq and Syria. Social exclusion, criminal gang networks and family connections may be the principle reasons for the radicalization of Lebanese immigrants in Australia.
About 150 Australians have been linked to terror networks in Syria and Iraq, and according to Dr. Rodger Shanahan of the Lowy Institute for International Policy, over 60 percent of these jihadis are of Lebanese origin.
Another dual Lebanese-Australian national, Hussam al-Sabbagh, a well-known militant in Salafist-jihadi circles, was arrested in Lebanon last July. The controversial figure led a Sunni militant group in Tripoli in several rounds of clashes with the Alawite community, which backs the regime of President Bashar Assad. He has also been accused of having ties with Fatah al-Islam, a radical group which fought against the Lebanese Army in 2007 – something that Salafist sources have denied.
The first appears to be the economic and social exclusion experienced by a small tranche of Lebanese-Australians, estimated at about 350,000 .
Many of the people who are currently accused of supporting ISIS in Australia appear to share close family ties.
Family ties make it easy for Lebanese descendants to join the Middle Eastern battleground.
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