Historically, the borders between Syria and Lebanon have been contested and porous. Between 2011 and 2013, the border areas witnessed mobility on both sides of the border: from Syria into Lebanon, where a steady flow of Syrians escaping war moved to and settled in Lebanon, and from Lebanon into Syria, where fighters and weapons entered Syria and were deployed to support either the regime or the opposition. Since then, these areas have become a central zone of contention and competition between several groups.

How does governance operate in Lebanon’s border areas, where a deliberate policy of marginalisation and insecurity has been historically adopted by the Lebanese state?

In light of the Syrian war, the research project report Lebanon’s Border Areas in Light of the Syrian War: New Actors, Old Marginalisation by Jamil Mouawad shows that the advent of new international and national actors in the border areas has further contributed to the reproduction or even the exacerbation of their precarity and marginalization, and focuses on what policies the Lebanese state should adopt to secure economic and social stability for these areas that have come to light as key determinants of stability or instability.