Lebanon's rising jihadi threat

Even after the Lebanese Army defeated Islamic militants Sunday, Al Qaeda's credo is spreading in Palestinian camps.

from the September 4, 2007 edition

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Others slipped out following the Bared River, after which the camp is named, upstream toward the mountains lying to the east. The Army said it killed 38 militants and captured another 24, but at least 10 are thought to have escaped.

The crackle of gunfire could be heard coming from dense orange orchards and olive groves lining the Bared River a few miles upstream of the camp as soldiers tracked down one militant who had been spotted in the morning. More than 220 people, including 163 soldiers, were killed in the fighting.

Outside Tripoli, several hundred people waved flags, beat drums, and flung handfuls of rice and rose petals at passing soldiers in a traditional gesture of celebration.

In a televised speech, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora addressed the Army, saying it had achieved "the biggest victory over terrorists." The US-backed government says that neighboring Syria was responsible for creating Fatah al-Islam, recruiting veterans of the Iraq insurgency and pro-Syrian Palestinians to destabilize Lebanon.

Syria has repeatedly denied any involvement with the group. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said such a notion was "rejected." But he congratulated Lebanon for defeating Fatah al-Islam, "which distracted the Lebanese Army from their enemy Israel."

Although Fatah al-Islam inside Nahr al-Bared has been destroyed, the group is thought to have a few supporters or cells operating elsewhere in the country. Fatah al-Islam's leadership vowed repeatedly during the fighting to unleash the "sleeper cells" against targets in Lebanon. Several militants were killed or arrested in gun battles with police outside the camp. Among them was the group's deputy leader, Abu Hureira, who escaped from the camp early on in the fighting only to be shot dead by police last month in the coastal city of Tripoli, 10 miles south of Nahr al-Bared.

A senior security official played down the prospect of further violence from the Fatah al-Islam survivors, dismissing them as a "gang" rather than a genuine jihadi group.

"This battle has been a lesson for this kind of combatant that Lebanon is too small and does not give them space to maneuver. They tried to pretend they were defending the Sunnis of Lebanon, but they were rejected by the Sunnis," the officer says, speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to talk to the press.

But other groups exist in Lebanon that have ties to Fatah al-Islam and share the same jihadist ideology of Al Qaeda. Among them is Esbat al-Ansar based in the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp in south Lebanon and classified by Washington as a terrorist organization.

Keeping a close eye on developments in north Lebanon is the UN peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL operating in the south along the border with Israel. In June, six UNIFIL peacekeepers were killed when a car bomb exploded beside their armored vehicle. Two weeks later, a small bomb exploded beside a UNIFIL checkpoint, causing no casualties. Although there was no claim of responsibility for the first attack, two people linked to Fatah al-Islam have been arrested for carrying out the second bombing.

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