Tanks hit al-Qaeda

Lebanese army fights extremists

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad al-Siniora yesterday, in a telephone conversation with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, accused Syria of bloodshed that led to the death of at least 70 Lebanese soldiers and Palestinian refugees. Lebanese authorities believe that the Syrians are deliberately creating unrest in the country before the UN Security Council discusses the issue of establishing an international tribunal to investigate the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri . Damascus denies involvement in both the crime and the civil strife in Lebanon, the worst since the end of the civil war in 1990.

Clashes between the army and the Sunni Islamist group Fatah al-Islam began on Sunday. The group, which numbers no more than 200 people, is based in the Nahr al-Barid Palestinian refugee camp, 16 km north of the Lebanese city of Tripoli. About 40 thousand of the 350 thousand Palestinians who settled in Lebanon found shelter in the camp.

The militants were the first to open fire after Lebanese security forces tried to detain members of the group suspected of robbing a bank. 23 soldiers, 15 militants and eight civilians were killed. Among the killed militants were not only Palestinians (in particular, Saddam al-Haj Dib, wanted by Germany for plotting terrorist attacks on trains), but also people from Bangladesh, Yemen and other countries.

Losses increased after the Lebanese army blocked Nahr al-Barid and began shelling it with heavy guns yesterday. Towards evening, Palestinian representatives seemed to have agreed with the Lebanese leadership on a ceasefire to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe in the refugee camp. Under the current agreement, the Lebanese army does not have the right to enter the territory of Palestinian refugee camps.

It is possible that Fatah al-Islam is connected with the international terrorist organization Al-Qaeda. The leader of Fatah al-Islam, Palestinian Shakir al-Absi, fought with the Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan and more than once showed sympathy for Osama Bin Laden. In 2004, al-Absi was sentenced to death in absentia in Jordan for the 2002 murder of American diplomat Lawrence Foley. A little later, Shakir al-Absi was arrested in Syria, which, however, did not hand him over to the Jordanians. The militant was released from a Syrian prison after more than a year in prison in the fall of 2006 and moved to Lebanon.

The Lebanese Shiite organization Hezbollah, which is close to Syria, with which Israel fought in the summer of 2006, condemned the actions of Fatah al-Islam, but blamed them on the pro-Western government of al-Siniora, “not ready for decisive action to resolve the situation.” The Russian Foreign Ministry, calling Fatah al-Islam an “extremist group,” stated the need for all parties to respect Lebanese sovereignty “under the single and exclusive authority” of the country’s government.

Alexander SAMOKHOTKIN