Clan diplomacy

The mainly Shia tribes of the Bekaa Valley are fiercely independent, live by strict traditions of honor and clan solidarity and scorn the dictates of the Lebanese state. In the past month, the Bekaa tribes have hit the headlines in Lebanon with brazen displays of defiance toward the state, leaving the government looking impotent and providing another headache for Hezbollah, which is already reeling from a succession of crises. The abduction of more than 20 Syrians in Lebanon by the Meqdad clan came in retaliation to the kidnapping of Hassan Meqdad in Damascus. The rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) accused Hassan Meqdad of being a member of Hezbollah. Hezbollah and the Meqdad family have denied the claims, with the latter saying that he was an employee of a Lebanese bank. The tit-for-tat kidnappings were not the first since the uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad began in March last year.