Posted on 05/16/2005 6:25:56 PM PDT by FreedomNeocon
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Syria might have distanced itself from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, but Bashar Assad remains best buddies with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, one of the deadliest terrorist groups in the world and a leading subcontractor of Iran and Syria.
The PFLP-GC is an arm of the Syrian military — the terrorist army. It has been training Hamas and a range of terrorists aligned with Syria. The organization still retains terrorist camps in Lebanon, particularly in the Bekaa Valley.
Osama Matar knows a lot about PFLP-GC methods. He trained in a terrorist camp near Damascus in 2004 in an effort to help Hamas launch major attacks against Israel.
A key aim was for Syria to help Hamas learn to dig tunnels under Israeli military outposts, fill the tunnels with explosives and then detonate them.
Hamas operatives were trained in Syria and then provided instruction to other recruits at a PFLP-GC base in Syria.
The PFLP-GC has at least two bases in Lebanon and several more in Syria. These bases have hosted terrorist training, stored Syrian weapons and concealed operatives and dirty operations.
Matar was recruited in the Gaza Strip after he completed 18 months at a university on a grant from Hamas. That grant came with a price, and Hamas demanded that Matar return to Syria for training to participate in what was termed "quality" operations against Israel.
Under the cover of being a student at the Agricultural College in Damascus, Matar received an apartment and about $10,000. He received instruction in undercover work and explosives in the apartment and practical military training at the PFLP-GC base in Syria. The training included firing rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, use of time-delay fuses and detonating TNT and C4 explosives.
Hamas trained Matar and other Palestinians in the camp. The PFLP-GC provided security and supervised. On occasion, Syrian intelligence officials arrived and were briefed.
This is food for thought, as Hamas won one-third of all municipalities in Palestinian elections last week. Syria must be pleased.
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