Lebanese group pledges allegiance to ISIS and the 'Islamic Caliphate'

The Free Sunnis of Baalbek Brigade, a group that has claimed responsibility for a number of recent attacks in Lebanon, declared on Monday its allegiance to Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), as the “Caliph of Muslims”. It also announced its support for what Al-Baghdadi and ISIS are doing “for the sake of Islam”.

“With utmost honour and pride, we announce our allegiance to the jihadist Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi as the Caliph for Muslims,” the Brigade announced via its Twitter account, Turkey’s Anadolu news agency reported.

The Brigade suggested that every Muslim should seek a Caliph who is capable of establishing the Islamic rule of sharia.

ISIS announced on Sunday the establishment of a so-called Islamic Caliphate in the territories it controls in Iraq and Syria. The spokesperson for ISIS, Mohammed Al-Adnani, maintained that the group’s leader Al-Baghdadi was also the Caliph of Muslims everywhere.

The Free Sunnis of Baalbek Brigade, which is also known as Ahrar Al-Sunna, has claimed responsibility for a number of suicide bombings that recently erupted in Lebanon, the latest of which took place at a hotel in Beirut.

However, the Al-Nusra Front in Lebanon warned in March that the Twitter account of the Free Sunnis of Baalbek Brigade is a fake and disseminates lies.

Meanwhile, the ISIS group based in Qalamoun-Damascus also declared via its Twitter account that it was responsible for the same blast that took place in the Beirut hotel. The group threatened Hezbollah and the Lebanese army, saying that hundreds of its members are ready to commit more suicide bombings.