More Than Bargaining Chips: How Jabhat Al-Nusra and Islamic State Kidnapped and Used Hostages in Lebanon

This paper presents an empirical examination of the Arsal hostage crisis in Lebanon, when Jabhat Al-Nusra and Islamic State kidnapped over 35 soldiers and police officers in 2014. Following interviews with 30 hostages’ families and analysis of the jihadists’ propaganda, three themes emerge. First, the hostage-taking had intrinsic emotional value for the jihadists and was not only a means to secure extrinsic concessions. Second, the crisis was often shaped by local, micro-level factors that guided how and when violence was used against hostages. Third, the jihadists coerced the captives’ families, leveraging them against the Lebanese State and local communities.