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Recent Appearances... Rantburg

Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Leb military court sentences IS group official to 160 years in prison
2023-09-29
[NAHARNET] A Lebanese military court has sentenced an official with the murderous Moslem Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group to 160 years in prison for carrying out deadly attacks against security forces and planning others targeting government buildings and crowded civilian areas, judicial officials said Wednesday.

The officials said Imad Yassin, a Paleostinian in his 50s, confessed to all 11 charges against him, including joining a "terrorist organization," committing crimes in Leb
...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
's largest Paleostinian refugee camp of Ain el-Helweh, shooting at Lebanese soldiers, and transporting weapons and munitions for krazed killer groups.

Yassin, also known as Imad Akl, said he was planning several other attacks, including blowing up two main power stations, the headquarters of a major local television station in Beirut, killing a leading politician, as well as planning attacks on hotels north of Beirut, the officials said on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
Ambitious...
Before joining IS, Yassin was a member of other krazed killer Islamic groups, includingo al-Qaeda-linked Jund al-Sham, which is still active in Ain el-Helweh. In later years, he became IS' top official in the camp.

Yassin was detained in Ain el-Helweh, near the port city of Sidon, six years ago and has been held since.
Not the best time to be living at state expense. Possibly a Turkish prison would be a step up...
The total 11 sentences that he received count to up to 160 years in prison, the officials said.

The session during which he was sentenced started Monday night and lasted until the early hours of Tuesday, the officials said. The news about his sentence became public on Wednesday.

At the height of its rise in Iraq and Syria after it declared a caliphate in 2014, IS grabbed credit for deadly attacks in different parts of Lebanon that left scores of people dead. Lebanese troops launched a major operation in 2017 during which they captured IS-held areas along the Lebanon-Syria border.
Related:
Ain el-Helweh: 2023-09-24 Hamas cadre arrested in Sidon over spying for Israel
Ain el-Helweh: 2023-09-21 Abbas holds onto the past as the Palestinian future slips away
Ain el-Helweh: 2023-09-21 Amid tensions, Fatah offshoot accuses Islamist rivals of turning West Bank into Syria
Related:
Jund al-Sham: 2023-08-19 UN suspends services in Ain el-Hellhole over gunmen inside its facilities
Jund al-Sham: 2023-08-04 Lebanon warns Palestinian president that troops may intervene if clashes continue in refugee camp
Jund al-Sham: 2023-08-02 HTS hands over foreign fighters to Turkish intelligence
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
UN suspends services in Ain el-Hellhole over gunmen inside its facilities
2023-08-19
[An Nahar] The U.N. agency for Paleostinian refugees says it has decided to suspend all of its services in Leb
...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
's largest refugee camp on Friday in protest against the presence of button men in its facilities.

UNRWA's decision went into effect shortly before noon Friday at the Ain el-Helweh refugee camp near the southern port city of Sidon. Services will resume Saturday, UNRWA said.

Days of street battles took place in the camp between the Fatah group of Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....
and two Islamic bad boy groups, Jund al-Sham and al-Shabaab
...... the personification of Somali state failure...
al-Moslem. The festivities broke out on July 30, after Fatah accused its rivals of shooting dead a senior Fatah military official.

The fighting killed at least 13 people, injured dozens and caused millions of dollars' of damage in the camp, according to UNRWA officials.

Lebanese security forces don't operate inside the refugee camps, where security is in the hands of Paleostinian factions who often compete for clout.

UNRWA said in its statement Friday that armed fighters are still present in its facilities, including schools. It added that UNRWA reiterates its call on armed actors to immediately vacate its facilities, "to ensure unimpeded delivery of much-needed assistance to refugees."

UNRWA said it "does not tolerate actions that breach the inviolability and neutrality of its installations." It added that schools are unlikely to be available for 3,200 children at the start of the new school year given repeated violations and significant damage reported.

Ain el-Helweh is home to more than 50,000 people and is the largest of 12 Paleostinian refugee camps in Lebanon.
Related:
Ain el-Helweh: 2023-08-15 Report: Hezbollah's Kahale truck was headed for Ain el-Helweh
Ain el-Helweh: 2023-08-12 Fighting leaves half of Ain el-Hellhole off-limits, UN says
Ain el-Helweh: 2023-08-08 Report: Foreign forces behind Ain el-Hellhole clashes
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanon warns Palestinian president that troops may intervene if clashes continue in refugee camp
2023-08-04
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas can’t even control the West Bank. What could he possibly do to get the idiots to behave in another country?
[NY Post] Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister called the Palestinian president Thursday to demand an end to the volatile situation in the country’s largest Palestinian refugee camp, warning that Lebanese troops may intervene to stop the fighting that has left dozens dead and wounded.

Najib Mikati’s call with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas came after days of sporadic clashes between Palestinian factions in the Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp near the southern port city of Sidon.

Mikati called the fighting a "flagrant violation of Lebanese sovereignty" and said it was unacceptable for the warring Palestinian groups to "terrorize the Lebanese, especially the people of the south who have embraced the Palestinians for many years," according to a statement released by his office.

His call came as cautious calm returned to the camp and surrounding area Thursday after a night of renewed clashes.

Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp, which is home to about 50,000 people, has been rocked since Sunday by fierce battles between Abbas’ Fatah party and Islamist groups Jund al-Sham and Shabab al-Muslim.
Related:
Ein el-Hilweh: 2023-08-01 Clashes intensify in Ain al-Helweh as death toll climbs to 9 11
Ein el-Hilweh: 2023-07-31 Bullets, shells hit Sidon as deadly clashes renew in Ain al-Hellhole; end-of-day hudna fails
Ein el-Hilweh: 2016-12-26 Eyewitness reveals details of Nusra Front founder in Syria
Related:
Jund al-Sham: 2023-08-02 HTS hands over foreign fighters to Turkish intelligence
Jund al-Sham: 2023-03-24 Foreign fighters in NW Syria invested by Turkey, HTS
Jund al-Sham: 2022-02-21 Idlib: War of all against all continues
Related:
Shabab al-Muslim: 2023-07-31 Bullets, shells hit Sidon as deadly clashes renew in Ain al-Hellhole; end-of-day hudna fails
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
HTS hands over foreign fighters to Turkish intelligence
2023-08-02
[NPASyria] Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else
...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State...
(HTS) handed over on Tuesday three imported muscle to Ottoman Turkish intelligence through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing in northern Idlib after 10 days of detaining them.

A security source told North Press that the fighters are Abu Thabit al-Afghani, an Afghani fighter and a former leader within ISIS, a Russian national, and Abu Azam al-Maqdisi, a former jihadi leader in Jund al-Sham, a Ottoman Turkish-backed faction of the Syrian National Army (SNA).

The source added that the fighters were transferred from Prison 107 in Idlib city to Bab al-Hawa border crossing where they were handed over to Ottoman Turkish intelligence.

The source said that the handover was carried out at the request of the Ottoman Turkish side and under the supervision of Abu Maria al-Qahtani, a senior security leader in HTS.

Similar handovers are conducted regularly, with no information available regarding the rationale behind them or the fate of fighters involved.

In late July, HTS handed over two foreign al-Qaeda leaders to Ottoman Turkish intelligence at the Bab al-Hawa border crossing, following 18 months of detainment in its prisons.

Turkey deports 27 Syrians through Bab al-Hawa crossing

[NPASyria] Ottoman Turkish authorities handed over on Tuesday 27 Syrians, including women and kiddies, to the officials of the Bab al-Hawa border crossing with The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
in northwest Syria.

The Syrians were arrested by the Ottoman Turkish border guards in Azmarin and Kherbet al-Joz villages in the west of Idlib while trying to cross the border to Turkey.

An exclusive source told North Press that the officials of the Bab al-Hawa crossing received the people, included women and kiddies. Some of them were beaten.

After registering their identity information, they were deported to northwest Syria, the source said.

The number of the Syrians who were detained by the Ottoman Turkish border guards and were handed over to the Bab al-Hawa crossing exceeded 1,300, according to source from the crossing.

As of the first half of 2023, the number of affected Syrian asylum seekers has reached 452 individuals, including 20 children and 26 women. Tragically, 25 people were killed and 121 others were maimed during direct targeting by live bullets while attempting to cross the Syrian-Ottoman Turkish border. In addition, the Ottoman Turkish border guards have assaulted and beaten 306 individuals and have used excessive force to prevent them from crossing the border.
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Foreign fighters in NW Syria invested by Turkey, HTS
2023-03-24
[NPASYRIA] Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else
...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State...
(HTS, formerly al-Nusra
...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ...
Front) continues to use imported muscle as political leverage in coordination with The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
, as well as a tool against government forces and opposition factions, taking advantage of the large number of foreigners who cannot leave areas under their control.

In 2012, imported muscle from different countries began entering Syria through Turkey. Ottoman Turkish intelligence reportedly guided the bully boyz into different factions, the most prominent of which are the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
(ISIS), al-Nusra Front, Jund al-Sham, and Jama’at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad.

LOCATIONS OF DEPLOYMENT
Exclusive sources from HTS’ Office of Foreign Fighters told North Press that there are "over 7,500 fighters" not of Syrian nationality affiliated with HTS in Idlib. "Almost 6,200 — including Uyghurs, Caucasians, Tajiks, Chechens — are the vanguard in the HTS frontlines,
...also known as cannon fodder...
whereas non-Syrian Arabs, mostly from north Africa, hold administrative, security, and military positions."

Foreign fighters who left HTS or refuse to be affiliated with it, whether in combat or ideology, are not included in official statistics. They live with their families in the towns of al-Fu’ah, Kafraya, and Sarmin, in the northeastern countryside of Idlib, as well as in Ariha, Jisr al-Shughur, and various other villages. HTS’ prisons hold 340 imported muscle under charges of joining ISIS or espionage, according to the source.

A military source of HTS, affiliated with the Red Bands, one of the most brutal faction in its ranks, said they hold between 900-1,200 imported muscle from Chechnya, Tajikistan, and East Turkestan [China], in addition to Moroccans, Algerians, Libyans and several from Iraq and Egypt."

The most prominent foreign faction affiliated with HTS is the Bukhari Jamaat, which is composed of Chechens and Uyghurs, as well as Russian Caucasian groups. Jama’at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad has Uzbek, Turkmenistani, and Moroccan members. It also harbors fighters from Gulf countries, in addition to numbers of Syrians, and an Uzbek group, which holds over 550 krazed killers.

One of the most loyal foreign factions to HTS is the Turkmen Islamic Party, which holds the largest number of imported muscle, specifically Uyghurs, and is directly supported by Turkey because of their members’ Turkic origins. They also undergo training and security courses within Ottoman Turkish territory and have a hospitalization center in Antakya. Turkey has facilitated their entry into the country, according to the source.

The same source noted that there is also an Iranian faction, named the ’Sunni Youth in Iran’ under the command of ’Abu Muhammad al-Irani’, a former commander of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. ’Abu Yahya al-Asfehani al-Irani’, another high-ranking member of the faction, holds around 150 Iranian fighters, and is affiliated with HTS on the frontlines in Idlib.

HTS also harbors prominent leaders from al-Qaeda in Pakistain and Afghanistan, as well as Iraq, who "have the greatest influence on [HTS leader] al-Jolani’s military approach," according to the source.

Abu Ayub al-Maghrabi is the emir in charge of borders and border crossings and was a former al-Qaeda leader in Pakistain, before heading to Syria. Abu Abdulrahman al-Qahtani, one of Jolani’s top men, was a colleague of Abu-Zaid al Kuwaiti, an al-Qaeda leader in Afghanistan and the "most distinguished student of [al-Qaeda leaders] the late Osama bin Laden
...... who is now beyond all cares and woe......
and al-Zawahiri
...Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area assuming he's not dead like Mullah Omar. He lost major face when he ordered the nascent Islamic State to cease and desist and merge with the orthodox al-Qaeda spring, al-Nusra...
." Additionally, there is Mazhar al-Ways, the most notable member of HTS’ Shura Council, who operated under the command of ISIS between 2013 and 2014 in ISIS’ so-called ’Wilayat al-Khair’ province in Deir ez-Zor.

There is also Musleh al-Alyan, one of the "most famous politicians of HTS from Saudi Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Fifteen of the nineteen WTC hijackers were Saudis, and most major jihadi commanders were Saudis, to include Osama bin Laden. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman quietly folded that tent in 2016, doing terrible things to the guys running it, and has since been dragging the kingdom into the current century...
," together with ’Abdullah al-Mehisani’, a Saudi national and "the most prominent jihadi agitator," who currently works covertly from his residence in Sarmada, in north Idlib.

The Uzbek faction within HTS includes Abu Salah al-Turkistani and Khattab al-Shishani, students of Saifullah al-Jazrawi, one of al-Qaeda’s emirs in Afghanistan during al-Zawahiri’s rule. Many of those who fought under al-Qaeda’s banner are currently in the ranks of HTS, but "avoid publicity for fear of liquidation," according to the source.
Related:
Bukhari Jamaat: 2015-09-23 Suicide bomber bursts into tears and is comforted by jihadis before fatal attack in Syria
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Idlib: War of all against all continues
2022-02-21




The opposition factions’ sites in the towns of al-Fatira, Kafr Aweid, Sufuhn, al-Bara, the outskirts of Kasanfra and al-Ruwaiha in Zawiya mountain, south of Idlib, were hit with heavy artillery and missiles by the government forces, North Press reported military sources in the opposition.

"The sites of the opposition factions in the towns of Taqad, Kafr Ta’al and the outskirts of Kafr Noran, west of Aleppo, were also bombed by the government forces," the sources added.

"The government forces’ sites near the town of Jobas, east of Idlib, were hit with Katyusha rockets by al-Fateh al-Mubin Operations Room," according to the sources.

According to the sources, al-Fateh al-Mubin managed to destroy a military bulldozer and a 14.5-caliber machine gun near al- Malajah in Zawiya Mountain, using guided missiles."



Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else
...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State...
(HTS, formerly al-Nusra
...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ...
Front) admitted, yesterday, the presence of imported muscle or those known as "al-Muhajirin" in Idlib, northwest Syria, two days after Australia designated it as a terrorist organization.

Last week, Australia listed HTS and the Guardians of Religion on its list of outlawed terrorist organizations.

This came through a statement issued by HTS, in which it obligated the families of migrant and imported muscle to evacuate their houses in Idlib.

The HTS security services issued a warning to more than 30 families of various foreign nationalities of the necessity of evacuating their houses within a maximum period of 10 days, local sources told North Press.

HTS security forces summoned a number of members, while similar warnings were issued to the wives of detainees in HTS prisons, to evacuate their houses before the end of the specified period, without clearing the reasons, the sources added.

This step comes to pressure the fighters who work in formations outside the HTS faction, to join its ranks or leave its area of controls, according to the same sources.

The HTS is tightening the screws on members of other factions in Idlib, where it recently arrested several members and leaders of foreign nationalities, according to the residents.

Last October, HTS expelled Jund al-Sham faction, led by Moslem Abu Walid al Shishani, from Turkmen Mountain area in the northeastern countryside of Latakia, and arrested its leaders.
Related:
Zawiya mountain: 2021-08-29 Government and opposition resume shelling each other in Syria's northwest
Zawiya mountain: 2012-01-22 Syrian Forces Kill More than 50 Civilian as Dissidents Clash with Troops
Related:
Idlib: 2022-02-20 Mutual shelling between government, opposition escalates in Syria’s northwest
Idlib: 2022-02-19 Turkish forces launch tear gas on IDP camps in north of Idlib, dozens injured
Idlib: 2022-02-17 Syria Two Syrian soldiers killed , nine wounded, says Russian Reconciliation Center
Related:
Fateh al-Mubin Operations Room: 2022-02-20 Mutual shelling between government, opposition escalates in Syria’s northwest
Fateh al-Mubin Operations Room: 2022-02-14 Shelling escalates between government and opposition in Syria’s northwest
Fateh al-Mubin Operations Room: 2022-02-10 Mutual shelling between government and opposition groups
Related:
Al-Muhajirin: 2013-05-20 1 Dead, 22 Hurt in New Clashes between Bab al-Tabbaneh, Jabal Mohsen in Tripoli
Al-Muhajirin: 2011-06-11 At Least 22 Dead in Syria Protests as Troops Raid Jisr al-Shughour
Al-Muhajirin: 2006-11-27 WaPo Roundupishy: Dozens Killed In Iraq Attacks
Related:
Jund al-Sham: 2021-09-22 UNRWA Head Alarmed by Incidents at Two Lebanon Palestinian Camps
Jund al-Sham: 2017-09-04 Grenade Explodes in Ain el-Hilweh after Islamists Clash over 'Firecrackers'
Jund al-Sham: 2017-03-12 Gemayel: Palestinian Arms Must be Controlled, State's Sovereignty Uncompromising
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
UNRWA Head Alarmed by Incidents at Two Lebanon Palestinian Camps
2021-09-22
[AnNahar] Phillipe Lazzarini, the head of the U.N. Paleostinian refugee agency UNRWA, has said that he is "very alarmed" by two "major" security developments that happened at two Paleostinian refugees camps in Leb
...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers, a practice dating back to the heady human sacrifice days of Baal Moloch. In 2020 Hezbollahblew up a considerable portion of Beirut and many of its inhabitants when its ammonium nitrate faci8lity exploded. They blamed it on... somebody else. It wasn't them though. Trust them on that...
over the weekend.

On the morning of September 19, protesters from the temporary housing units near the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp broke into the UNRWA construction site office, causing severe damage to the premises and to seven Agency vehicles. No one was injured.

"This incident came in the aftermath of a series of thefts in our installations in the camp over the last few weeks. Paleostinian faction leaders condemned the incident and the thefts and pledged their support to ensure these incidents would not occur again," Lazzarini said in a statement.

On the same day, in the Ain al-Hilweh camp, in the south of Lebanon, fighting between the Fatah and Jund al-Sham armed factions erupted, and fighters "entered four UNRWA schools," Lazzarini added.

Seven people were maimed because of the fighting there, including two civilians in Sidon. Lazzarini said Paleostinian faction leaders have condemned the incident and have committed to investigate it.

"I strongly condemn these incidents, which severely undermine the neutrality and inviolability of our premises and put at serious risk the protection and security of Paleostine refugees, UNRWA personnel and property. UNRWA is requesting that all parties commit to respect the Agency’s neutrality and the inviolability of its installations at all times and to take all measures necessary to ensure that incidents to the contrary are not repeated," he added.

Lazzarini also said that he continues to be "extremely concerned" about the deteriorating situation in Lebanon as a whole and its "significant impact on Paleostine refugees who were already among the most vulnerable communities."

"UNRWA is a front-row witness to the immense needs and the high level of poverty among Paleostine refugees in Lebanon. The Agency is sparing no effort to advocate for additional support to the Paleostine refugee community in Lebanon," he said.

"In order to continue to deliver critical services, UNRWA needs both additional financial support and full respect for the safety of its personnel as well as for the inviolability of its installations at all times," he added.
Related:
UNRWA: 2021-09-16 Germany's Jewish Leadership vs. Israel
UNRWA: 2021-09-10 24-year-old Arab shot to death in East Jerusalem
UNRWA: 2021-08-12 Hamas said to block UN team from inspecting school where tunnel was found
Related:
Nahr al-Bared refugee camp: 2016-07-15 Palestinians Warned that IS, Nusra May be Plotting to Take Over Ain el-Hilweh
Nahr al-Bared refugee camp: 2014-08-09 Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, ISIS and Hezbollah
Nahr al-Bared refugee camp: 2014-03-26 Suleiman Urges Arabs to Share Number of Syrian Refugees, Support Lebanon's Neutrality
Related:
Ain al-Hilweh: 2020-09-07 Hamas' politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh is carried into the Palestinian camp of Ain al-Hellhole
Ain al-Hilweh: 2019-01-23 Army Says Israeli 'Agent' Arrested over Anti-Hamas Attack
Ain al-Hilweh: 2017-09-29 Lebanon Military Tribunal sentences Takfiri preacher to death
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Grenade Explodes in Ain el-Hilweh after Islamists Clash over 'Firecrackers'
2017-09-04
[An Nahar] A hand grenade went kaboom! by accident at 8:00 am Sunday in the al-Briksat neighborhood of the Ein el-Hellhole Paleostinian refugee camp, causing no casualties, the National News Agency reported.

The camp had witnessed violence overnight after a dispute over "children playing with firecrackers" escalated into an armed clash between the Islamist Usbat al-Ansar and Jund al-Sham groups.

The clash in the camp’s al-Tawari neighborhood resulted in the wounding of a relative of a senior Usbat al-Ansar official after he was shot at the hands of Jund al-Sham member Hassan M., aka al-Shibel, the agency said.

The restive camp had witnessed a week of deadly festivities last month between the secular Fatah Movement and small Islamist groups led by the Lions of Islam Bilal Badr and Bilal al-Orqoub.

By longstanding convention, the Lebanese army does not enter Paleostinian refugee camps in Leb, leaving the Paleostinian factions themselves to handle security.

Ein el-Hellhole -- the most densely populated Paleostinian camp in Leb -- is home to some 61,000 Paleostinians, including 6,000 who have fled the war in neighboring Syria.

Several armed factions including hard boy groups have a foothold in the camp which has been plagued for years by intermittent festivities.

Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Gemayel: Palestinian Arms Must be Controlled, State's Sovereignty Uncompromising
2017-03-12
[An Nahar] Kataeb party leader MP Sami Gemayel emphasized on Saturday that Paleostinian arms spread out inside the refugee camps threaten Leb's illusory sovereignty.

"The Lebanese government must deal with the file of Paleostinian armament inside the refugee camps as an issue of illusory sovereignty not subject to any form of bargain or compromise," Gemayel told al-Joumhouria daily in an interview.

"What is needed is a clear and strict decision to impose the Lebanese State's illusory sovereignty in the camps and to apply Lebanese laws on all those residing on Leb's territory without any exception," stressed Gemayel.

The MP expressed astonishment at "the silence of related officials and the government's and political authority's inaction to confront the festivities in Ein el-Hellhole and Bourj al-Barajneh, although Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
has called on Leb's authority during his recent visit to Beirut to take the initiative and boost its illusory sovereignty inside the camps."

"The Lebanese state has had enough of chaos scenes in Paleostinian camps that only remind the Lebanese of black historical eras of the State's incapability to protect and defend its illusory sovereignty from those residing on its very land," he concluded.

Leb has witnessed a series of armed festivities in Paleostinian refugees camps the most recent was yesterday in Bourj al-Barajneh in south Beirut, and in the southern Ein el-Hellhole the week before.

Heavy armed festivities erupted in and around the Paleostinian refugee camp of Bourj al-Barajneh, one of the capital's crowded southern suburbs, between the Lebanese Jaafar family and the al-Qaffas Paleostinian family.

Media reports said at least three people were killed and several others maimed.

In similar incidents, deadly armed festivities between the Fatah Movement and Islamist groups rocked Ein el-Hellhole for almost a week in February left one civilian dead and six others injured.

By long-standing convention, Leb's army does not enter Paleostinian refugee camps, where security is managed by joint committees of Paleostinian factions.

In recent years, tensions have risen between Fatah and the Jund al-Sham Islamist group in the camp.

The UN's Paleostinian refugee agency said on Tuesday it had halted all services in the camp for the second day because of the unrest.

Ain al-Hilweh is an impoverished, overcrowded camp near the coastal city of Sidon, and is home to some 61,000 Paleostinians, including 6,000 who have fled the war in Syria.

Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Report: Fatah Members Receiving Military Training in Tyre Camp
2017-03-07
[AnNahar] Hundreds of Fatah Movement fighters are receiving military teachings and combat lessons in the Paleostinian refugee camp of al-Rashidieh in the southern town of Tyre, An Nahar daily reported on Monday.

"The activity which has been going on for a year now, is carried out with the cognition of the Lebanese Security Forces. The matter was thoroughly discussed during the recent visit of Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
to Beirut in February, through Paleostinian Authority security chief Majid Faraj who spoke at length in that regard with General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim and senior army intelligence officers," added the daily.

"The development in the Lebanese-Paleostinian relations are much welcomed by Fatah," said the daily. "According to Paleostinian leaders, it would support the Paleostinians' position mainly in the fragile Ein el-Hellhole refugee camp and maintain safe security situation --that was highly emphasized by Abbas during his meetings with Lebanese officials."

According to Paleostinian sources, "some parties are still trying to perturb the latest visit of Abbas in a bid to prevent Fatah Movement from showing a leading position in the Paleostinian file. But its opponents do not expect the Fatah "project" to succeed over internal differences between a large number of its leaders and a series of contradictions despite the attention it receives from Lebanese authorities," according to the daily.

Late in February, heavy festivities rocked Ein el-Hellhole for six consecutive days leaving one civilian killed and four maimed.

The fighting near Leb's southern port city of Sidon has pitted members of Paleostinian president Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement against hardline Islamist groups.

Intermittent fighting first broke out after Fatah pulled out of a joint committee that maintained security in Ein el-Hellhole, but the violence later intensified.

Paleostinian factions meeting at their embassy in Beirut later announced that they had agreed on a ceasefire to end the fighting.

By long-standing convention, Leb's army does not enter Paleostinian refugee camps, where security is managed by joint committees of Paleostinian factions.

In recent years, tensions have risen between Fatah and the Jund al-Sham Islamist group
... the name translates as "Soldiers of the Levant". The Syrian version is a Chechen jihadi group led by Murad Margoshvili (AKA "Moslem Abu Walid al-Shishani") that started in the Kurdish Mountains (Jabal al-Akrad) of northern Latakia and the Jisr Shughour area of Idlib, but moved to the northern Hama countryside to aid rebel allies. The one that has been feuding with Fatah in Lebanon's Ain al Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp is a Sunni group that split off from Osbat al-Nour in 2004....
in the camp.
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanon builds wall near Ein el-Hellhole
2016-11-22
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Leb is building wall near the country’s largest Paleostinian refugee camp to prevent holy warriors from infiltrating, a military source said Monday.

The overcrowded and impoverished Ain al-Hilweh camp near the southern coastal city of Sidon has gained notoriety in recent years as a refuge for Moslem holy warriors and runaways.

It also saw deadly fighting last year between the Jund al-Sham Islamist group and members of Paleostinian president the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
’s Fatah movement.

And in September the army said security forces had tossed in the calaboose
Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try!
a Paleostinian refugee suspected of links to the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group who was in the camp.

"The construction of the wall began some time ago and the aim is to stop the infiltration of forces of Evil inside Ain al-Hilweh from nearby orchards," the military source told AFP.

"It’s a security measure" that was taken after the arrest of "runaway terrorists" who had taken shelter in the camp, he said.

Pictures were posted online showing cranes lifting huge concrete blocks on the western side of Ain al-Hilweh then setting them side by side, as well as watchtower.

Social media users compared the wall to a controversial separation barrier which Israel has been building in the occupied West Bank since 2002.

"Soon, the children of Ain al-Hilweh will draw pictures depicting Paleostine and freedom on the wall of shame," one person said online.

A camp official, Fuad Othman, called the wall a "provocation".
All walls are provocations until completed, at which point they become enclosures, or at least tactical obstacles.
Major General Mounir al-Maqdah, the head of the Paleostinian security forces in Leb, criticised the construction of the wall.

"The wall, parts of which have been erected, is causing psychological pressure for the Paleostinian refugees," said Maqdah.

"We wouldn’t have needed a separation barrier and watchtowers if the Lebanese authorities had, years ago, found a solution to the Paleostinian presence in Leb," he added.

The military source said Leb "is not building a prison or a separation wall, but a wall for protection", adding residents would be able to go in and out from the camp, except from the western side.

By long-standing convention, the army does not enter Paleostinian refugee camps in Leb but holds positions outside of it, leaving the factions to handle security inside.

More than 61,000 Paleostinian refugees live in Ain al-Hilweh, including 6,000 who recently fled the war in Syria, according to the UN’s agency for Paleostinian refugees, UNRWA.

Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Chechen jihadist group joins rebels in northern Hama
2016-09-14
[ALMASDARNEWS] A Chechen jihadist group known as "Jund al-Sham" announced on Tuesday that their forces are participating in the rebel offensive in the northern Hama countryside.

Jund al-Sham originally operated in the Kurdish Mountains (Jabal al-Akrad) of northern Latakia and Jisr Shughour area of Idlib; however, the recent losses in the rebel ranks has forced them to come to the aid of their allies.

In the statement released on Tuesday, Jund al-Sham admitted they played a role in the capture of Kawkab, a key town in the northern Hama countryside that the rebels were not able to capture until recently.

The leader of this jihadist group is Murad Margoshvili (AKA "Moslem Abu Walid al-Shishani"), who is internationally sanctioned for his terrorist activities.
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