With Saudi Arabia The Sunnis of Lebanon have close ties with
Saudi Arabia, who supports them financially. Moreover, Tripoli, the stronghold of the Lebanese Sunnis, is also the birthplace of Lebanon's
Salafi movement. According to 2016 polling, 82% of Lebanese Sunnis have a favorable opinion of Saudi Arabia.
With Lebanese Alawites and Syria The Lebanese Sunni Muslims initially opposed the creation of the Lebanese state separated from Syria, where the majority of the population was also Sunni Muslim, and wanted the territory of present-day Lebanon to be incorporated within the so-called
Greater Syria. Sunni Muslims and
Alawites have been in conflict with each other for centuries. The Alawites of the Levant were oppressed by the Sunni
Ottoman Empire, but gained power and influence when the French recruited Alawites as soldiers during the
French mandate of Syria. After independence from France, their co-religionists, the
Assad family, came to power in
Syria in 1970. Over the years, there have been numerous clashes between the Sunni and Alawi communities in
Tripoli since the breakout of the
Syrian revolution, as part of the
Arab Spring that started in
Tunisia. At the best of times, the
Alawites are regarded by
Sunnis as heretics; at times of tension, when thousands of Sunnis in Syria were being killed, they were regarded as the enemy. And when a popular Sunni figure is strangely abducted and arrested by Lebanon's General Security Service – the Alawites become the scapegoats. Throughout the
Syrian civil war, most Lebanese Sunnis supported the
Syrian opposition, with some joining Syrian rebel forces and supplying the
Free Syrian Army with arms and munitions. In December 2024, Lebanese Sunnis took to the streets to celebrate the
fall of the Assad regime following successful
HTS-led
Syrian opposition offensives, with major demonstrations especially in
Tripoli and
Beirut. Lebanese Sunni share many views with the
new Syrian government of
Ahmed al-Sharaa, including opposition to
Hezbollah and the
Axis of Resistance. According to analysts, the events in Syria have empowered Lebanese Sunnis and emboldened
Salafist groups in Lebanon, who may now deepen their ties with Salafist counterparts in Syria.
With Iran and Hezbollah Lebanese Sunnis are largely hostile to
Iran, viewing it as a destabilizing force due to its support for
Hezbollah and other Shia militias. According to polling data from 2012, 95% of Lebanese Sunnis hold a negative view of Iran, with 94% strongly opposing the
Iranian nuclear program. Sunnis are also vehemently opposed to Hezbollah—viewing it as an untrustworthy
sectarian force—a stance that intensified following the
assassination of Sunni former Prime Minister
Rafic Hariri in 2005, which was blamed on Hezbollah. Their opposition deepened further following the
2008 Lebanon conflict and
Hezbollah's involvement in the Syrian civil war in support of the
Assad regime. In 2010, 84% of Lebanese Sunnis had a negative view of Hezbollah, compared to only 12% that had a positive view. ==Geographic distribution within Lebanon==