In Lebanon's camps, rising sympathy for Islamists
Recent battles between Lebanese police and Fatah al-Islam militants anger local residents.
from the May 31, 2007 edition
Page 3 of 4
Islamist becomes a 'martyr'
"But we are celebrating here. This is a party, not a funeral. See, we are offering sweets. Bilal died a martyr, and we are proud of him," she sobs, as tears trickle down her wrinkled cheeks.
Riad Mahmoud continued the notion of a celebration for his son, picking up his glass of cola and clinking it against those of his guests.
"Salaam, salaam," he says, conferring peace on his visitors.
Local residents say that the Army and police have not returned to Tebbaneh since the shooting, fearing acts of reprisal.
"The government is worse than the Syrians. They are killing and arresting us all," says one man who claims to have spent 10 years in a Syrian prison for fighting with Islamists against the Syrian Army in 1985.
Since the crackdown began, as many as 200 people have been rounded up on suspicion of forming militant cells, arms dealing, and having connections to Al Qaeda.
Most of them have been released, but more than a dozen people are still in detention, and one prominent cleric remains in hiding.
But Sheikh Bakri says that the wave of arrests and harassment risks pushing young men into the arms of radical Islamist groups.
"The government must release the detained and stop the arrests or people will be forced to join Fatah al-Islam," he says.
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