Elie's mother sits on her terrace every morning in the predominantly Christian town of Dababiya in northern Akkar, a few kilometers from the Syrian border, and invites her neighbors for a coffee and a chat about the latest gossip.
Muslims in the area also feel the threat is knocking on their doors; the beheading of Ali al-Sayyed, a Muslim soldier from Fnaydeq captured by ISIS in Arsal, only reinforced their terror, signaling to them that even their faith could not ensure their security.
Elie is in his 40s and not married, which is unusual for Akkar, where men often get married early. But these days he is more concerned about the threat of ISIS than he is about marriage.
The ISIS threat from the north is centered around the embattled areas of Tal Kalakh and Qalaat al-Hosn, but as Christians and Muslims – including Alawites – in Akkar's foothills would all be directly affected in the event of a spillover, the concerns of the residents have not taken on a sectarian dimension.
Self-security measures have increased not only for Alawites and Christians, but other parties apprehensive about the ISIS threat, and who believe the Lebanese government and the nation's security forces are not prepared to protect them from extremist groups.
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