Alastair Crooke, who spent nearly thirty years in MI6, the British intelligence service, and now works for Conflicts Forum, a think tank in Beirut, told me, “The Lebanese government is opening space for these people to come in. It could be very dangerous.” Crooke said that one Sunni extremist group, Fatah al-Islam, had splintered from its pro-Syrian parent group, Fatah al-Intifada, in the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, in northern Lebanon. Its membership at the time was less than two hundred. “I was told that within twenty-four hours they were being offered weapons and money by people presenting themselves as representatives of the Lebanese government’s interests-presumably to take on Hezbollah,” Crooke said.
(excerpt from Hersh)
Thursday, November 30, 2006
PLO warns of new militant influx
About 200 Arab militants arrived recently in Lebanon and have set up an Islamic grouping at a Palestinian refugee camp in the North, a senior official of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) said Wednesday. "About 200 armed elements came to Lebanon over several phases," Khaled Aref said.
He said the militants first joined the Damascus-based "Fatah-Intifada in Lebanon, but a few days ago, they announced their rupture at the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon."
"They declared that they have formed a new movement called Fatah al-Islam," he said, adding that the militants were Palestinians, Lebanese and a number of other Arabs.
"We don't know their real allegiance," he said, without revealing the countries where the militants came from.
A statement from the pro-Syrian Fatah-Intifada on Wednesday said "Fatah-Islam has no links with Fatah-Intifada."
It said Fatah-Islam was headed by Shaker Issa, a former Fatah-Intifada official "who has been expelled a while ago."
Local daily Al-Mustaqbal said Wednesday that Lebanese authorities had detained two members of the group, Syrian Hussam Mohammad Siyam, known as Abu Mohammad al-Suri, and Saudi-Syrian Mohammad Saleh Salem.
They were held after "a recent incident" at the Nahr al-Bared camp, said the paper, confirming that they were part of the group of 200 militants.
Al-Mustaqbal, which is owned by the Hariri family, said the militants "are part of a terrorist plot by the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad aiming to assassinate 36 anti-Syrian Lebanese figures."
The news came a day after a military leader of a militant Islamist group blew himself up near a Syrian-Lebanese border crossing, wounding two Syrian police officers, officials said. Syrian Omar Hamra, 28, was the military commander of Al-Tawheed Wal-Jihad, one of several militant organizations pursued by Damascus, they said.
The incident took place at 1:45 p.m. on the Syrian side of the Jdaidet Yabous crossing point with Lebanon.
"He was trying to cross the border with false documents. He shot at security forces with a pistol, tried to escape and then blew himself up with an explosive belt," the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) said.
Commenting on the incident, the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) accused the Syrian regime of "preparing the scenario of Tuesday's attack in order to perpetrate attacks inside and outside Palestinian camps."
In a statement on Wednesday, the PSP warned of "Syrian attempts to instigate chaos in the Lebanese arena."
Deputy Speaker Farid Makari urged the Arab League and the UN Security Council to look into "Syria's plans to assassinate 36 Lebanese figures."
Makari said in a statement that "the Syrian regime, which is suspected of killing former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, is determined to continue its terrorist attack against Lebanon."
"It is a matter of life or death for the Lebanese," he added.
"I urge the Arab League and the Security Council to look into the issue in order to preserve the country's security and assist with the implementation of international resolutions," Makari said.
Meanwhile, a leading figure in hard-line Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia told AFP on Wednesday that his fighters had not received training from Hizbullah in Lebanon or iran.
Sahib al-Ameri, secretary general of Sadr's Najaf-based Martyrs' Foundation, a religious body linked to the Sadr movement, denied reports from US intelligence officials that Hizbullah officials had been training fellow Shiites in Iraq.
"We confirm that the only relationship we have with Hizbullah is a religious one," he said. "We emphasize that we didn't send anyone from the militia to Lebanon and no one from Hizbullah came here to train the Mehdi Army."
Ameri said they were ready to back up this assertion with hard evidence and suggested that their accusers be ready to do the same.
On Tuesday, a US intelligence official claimed that 1,000-2,000 Shiite fighters had been trained in Lebanon. - Agencies
http://unipal.blogspot.com/2006/11/lebanon-plo-warns-of-new-militant.html