As sectarian and jihadist violence engulfs the Middle East, a sea of ink has been spilled in efforts to explain this alarming trend. Too often, new books on this subject have been written in haste, by authors who have spent little time in these troubled regions. Not so with The Sunni Tragedy in the Middle East. In this pathbreaking book, Bernard Rougier explores the evolution of Sunni jihadism in Lebanon’s tumultuous northern region. Showcasing more than a decade of intensive field research, the author ventures deep into the complex and closed networks along the Lebanese–Syrian border to tell a story of how Sunni political activism evolved and mutated into jihadism. The book offers a rich and detailed sociological history of this politically volatile part of the Levant, and sheds light on the long-standing reasons behind the raging sectarian violence that has now consumed the region.

A most timely contribution, Rougier’s narrative uncovers how the Syrian regime shaped the regional security dynamics that perpetuated the rise of Sunni activism on both sides of the Lebanese border. Using his remarkable access in order to interview key players to the conflict, the author reveals how and why the Syrian regime sought to manipulate its political rivals, hoping to discredit its Sunni opposition and maintain its hegemonic influence over northern Lebanon. Teasing out the connections among Iran, Hezbollah, and Syria, he explains how the Sunni political understanding in northern Lebanon was pushed, through both political exclusion and elite manipulation, into a more radical form of Salafi jihadism. By connecting local Salafi jihadist aspirations to the Syrian regional power politics, Rougier opens the door for international security specialists to better understand the roots of sectarian conflict that continue to spread across the Middle East.

The story begins with the political history of the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, which is the scene and setting of much of the book. For decades after the French mandate had separated the two countries, Syria treated northern Lebanon as its backyard, honing in on Tripoli as a key battleground for influence. Rougier’s historical narrative recounts how Syria’s decades-long occupation and tutelage over northern Lebanon fomented sectarian resentment and created the conditions for a new Sunni jihadism. The Syrian regime, which is dominated by a Shia offshoot Alawiite sect, enjoyed the support of Shia-dominated Iran and Hezbollah, while actively repressing Sunni populations in the region in the name of secularism. Considering that Syria has a majority Sunni populace and Lebanon has roughly equal Sunni and Shia populations, this dominant Alawiite-Shia alliance incited sectarian resentments on both sides of the border. Rougier argues that as these grievances festered, Sunnis turned their imaginations to the idea of a global ummah, which helped nurture the creation of new jihadist connections.

Rougier’s story takes a dramatic turn with the shocking assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri in 2005. As a vocal opponent of the Assad regime in Syria and the leader of the anti-Hezbollah Future Movement, Hariri had been a thorn in the side of Damascus. The assassination was a watershed moment that mobilized a Sunni reaction in Lebanon and expedited Syrian withdrawal from its occupied territories in the northern region. Out of the 2005 crisis, two key Lebanese political movements emerged: the Sunni-dominant anti-Assad “March 14th Alliance,” led by Hariri’s son who took over the Future Movement, and the pro-Assad “March 8th Coalition,” which enjoyed strong Hezbollah support. Through a tale of intrigue and double cross, Rougier explains how over the next decade, saber rattling between Syria’s Assad family and Lebanon’s Hariri family created a toxic landscape and political void that allowed Sunni jihadism to thrive in the north, while marginalizing non-jihadist Sunni activism. He carries the reader through a detailed narrative of the evolution of and infighting among Sunni groups in this particular region, focusing intently on the specific characters who were involved in key positions during the formative years of these jihadist groups.

With regards to theory, Rougier’s work is decidedly inductive, and heavy on empirical details of this very specific case. The book does not claim to test a theory, and instead seeks to identify patterns and linkages revealed from within this case. Political scientists from a North American tradition will therefore find value in the book’s detailed historical sociology of an important and politically volatile region. Rougier’s stated goal at the outset is “to explain how and why jihadism wove its way into a Sunni social fabric in the throes of a leadership crisis” (p. vii); to clarify for the international security specialist, the book provides a detailed historical account of the evolution of Sunni jihadism in northern Lebanon, but does not theorize a model of Sunni jihadism that can be generalized. The story is not about the dark forest of Sunni jihadism, but rather how specific trees were planted, and then mutated over time.

To that end, the author’s empirical work provides rare insights into important characters in this story, many of whom he interviewed himself. A good part of the empirical chapters are devoted to the stories of these key players and their role in Sunni activism in northern Lebanon, as told through their own words. This emphasis on the characters constructs a rich narrative description, with a unique view from the ground level. His analysis of previously unseen translated documents adds nuance to his extensive interview work. The general reader may find some of the thick description a bit dense; scholars working on sectarian conflict in either Lebanon or Syria, however, will find much worthwhile empirical evidence in this text.

Nonetheless, while Rougier’s primary source material is fascinating, unfortunately his research makes little effort to engage with the academic scholarship on any of the subjects he covers. Not only are there remarkably few footnotes, but the author also does not bother to draw upon any of the high-quality academic research that has already been published on Syria, Iran, or Lebanon that could have helped fill in the gaps of his analysis. It would also have been fitting to situate the book within the vibrant scholarly literature on jihadism, much of which is steeped in an analysis of sectarian violence and regional security complexes. There are also a few definitional problems, including a mischaracterization of Sunni and Salafi ideological differences, which could have been corrected by engaging with these literatures. Indeed, this was a missed opportunity. By not engaging with these literatures, and by failing to situate the contribution within a broader academic conversation, The Sunni Tragedy in the Middle East is too much an island. That said, Rougier’s contribution to our understanding of this critically important part of the world makes it an island well worth visiting.