Escaped Militants 'Threaten' Attacks in Lebanon
- From: "Salah Jafar" <salahjafar@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2007 01:48:41 GMT
Audio tape claims group of fighters from nahr al-bared will launch terror
campaign in country.
The leader of a Syrian Islamist group claimed in an audio tape aired on
Sunday that a group of Fatah al-Islam militants had escaped from the Nahr
al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in North Lebanon, and he hinted they would
be launching attacks inside Lebanon soon. Abu Jandal al-Dimashqi, the
self-declared leader of Tawhid and Jihad in Syria, also mourned the death of
Abu Hureira, the deputy leader of Fatah al-Islam, which has been battling
the Lebanese Army in the camp and in Tripoli since May 20.
The government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora announced last week that
police in Tripoli, about 12 kilometers from the Nahr al-Bared camp, had
killed Abu Hureira, a Lebanese whose real name was Shehab al-Qaddour.
"The martyrdom of our brother Abu Hureira has fanned the flames," said
Dimashqi in an audio tape posted on an Islamic Web site. "Let the government
of traitor Siniora know some of Fatah al-Islam's heroes have left the camp
and are now among you. Wait for a black day."
The authenticity of the audio tape could not be verified, but it was posted
on a Web site commonly used by Islamic militants.
Dimashqi criticized residents of Abu Hureira's Northern village of Mishmish
for refusing to bury him in the town's cemetery since he fought against the
army. Three of the 136 soldiers who have been killed fighting Fatah al-Islam
were from Mishmish.
A senior army officer said the military took the statement "seriously" and
was analyzing it. But the officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said
the army "does not operate according to statements posted on the Internet,
but rather on military plans."
In further developments, the Lebanese Army on Sunday rejected a conditional
offer of surrender by the remaining Fatah al-Islam militants.
"The Islamists' spokesman Shahine Shahine made known an offer to give
themselves up to the League of Palestinian Clerics, but this was rejected by
the military," said Mohammad al-Hajj, a spokesman for the clerics trying to
broker an end to the deadly fighting in the camp.
The army is demanding that the remaining Fatah al-Islam militants surrender
unconditionally, hand over their weapons and disband Fatah al-Islam, Hajj
added.
A military spokesman confirmed Hajj's comments.
"Fatah al-Islam is in no position to set conditions," he said.
"They have no other option but to surrender to the army and be brought to
justice.
"However, we are ready to guarantee that their families be able to leave the
camp in a peaceful manner. Let them suggest a mechanism for this, and it
will be immediately implemented," the spokesman added.
No more than an estimated 60 civilians of the camp's official population of
31,000 remain inside Nahr al-Bared, and these people are thought to be the
wives and children of the Islamist fighters.
Also on Sunday, the National News Agency announced that Lebanese troops
discovered a tunnel in Nahr al-Bared with furnished rooms "that appear to
have been residences for Fatah al-Islam officials." It reported that troops
had captured weapons and ammunition as well.
The army on Sunday continued bombarding the camp with intermittent artillery
fire, targeting underground Fatah al-Islam positions. The Fatah al-Islam
militants still control an area of about 1,500 square meters inside the camp
Two rockets launched from inside the Nahr al-Bared camp Sunday morning hit
the Akkar plain 4 kilometers away from the camp, although no casualties or
damage were reported.
Rockets fired from the camp on August 2 hit the Deir Ammar power plant, one
of the most important in Lebanon. It is still out of action, which has meant
power cuts across the country.
A Gazelle - the light attack helicopter recently purchased from France -
flew over the camp Sunday without opening fire, after the helicopter
gunships had launched strikes on Islamist positions on Thursday and Friday.
Over 200 people - among them 136 soldiers - have been killed since the
fighting began 12 weeks ago. The toll does not include the bodies of
militants that still have to be retrieved from inside the camp.
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