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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Seven Fatah al-Islam Members Escape from Ain el-Hilweh

2012-05-18

[An Nahar] Conflicting reports have emerged over the escape of seven Fatah al-Islam A Syrian-incubated al-Qaeda work-alike that they think can be turned off if no longer needed to keep the Leb pot stirred. members from the Paleostinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hellhole in southern Leb on Tuesday, reported Voice of Leb radio on Thursday. An informed security source from the South stated that leading member Toufic Taha is among them. It remains unclear where the runaways escaped to, but it has been speculated that they may have headed to Syria. A Paleostinian source identified the six other Fatah Islam members as Haitham al-Shaabi, Mohammed al-Aarfi, Ziad Abou al-Niaaj, Mohammed Ibrahim al-Mansour, and Oussama Shehabi. An expanded meeting for Fatah members and the representative of the Paleostinian Authority in Leb Azzam al-Ahmed was promptly held at the Paleostinian Embassy in Beirut as soon as the news of the escape broke out. The Lebanese army had recently uncovered a takfir ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed... i network within its ranks, which was planning on carrying out attacks against army barracks and centers. Taha has been found to be the head of the network. Al-Joumhouria newspaper reported in March that Taha is one of the most active members of al-Qaeda in Leb and he is also in constant internet contact with al-Qaeda leader Ayman 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. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is... from whom he receives orders and directions.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Using bed sheets, 5 prisoners escape Lebanese jail

2011-08-15

BEIRUT: Five prisoners escaped a high-security Lebanese prison Saturday by scaling down the building’s walls with bed sheets before mixing with visiting relatives and walking out of the compound with them, the interior minister said. Oh! Oh! I seen this movie! The minister, Marwan Charbel, blamed the escape from the Roumeih prison east of Beirut on bribing “the pure negligence” of the guards and demanded that officers who were in charge when the jail break took place be punished. Lebanese authorities later released photographs, names and the nationalities of the five fugitives, urging people to contact police with any information. A security official said the five are a Lebanese, a Kuwaiti, a Sudanese and two Syrians. Late Saturday, members of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah group detained the Sudanese man in the Biddawi refugee camp in northern Lebanon and handed him over to Lebanese authorities, security officials said on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. Local media reports said the escaped convicts included members of the Al-Qaeda-inspired Fatah Islam group. Charbel refused confirm or deny that there were Fatah Islam members among those who fled. Fatah Islam fought a three-month battle against the army inside the Palestinian refugee camp Nahr el-Bared in northern Lebanon in 2007. The Lebanese army crushed the group after three months, but the clashes left 220 militants, 171 soldiers and 47 Palestinian civilians dead. Dozens of the group’s members were captured. Lebanese troops, backed by an army helicopter, set up a security cordon around the prison and searched all cars leaving the area, security officials said.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Security storms Lebanese prison after riot, fire

2011-04-06

BEIRUT -- Lebanese security forces stormed Lebanon’s largest prison Tuesday, freeing three hostages, after several hundred inmates demanding improved conditions set a fire inside one of the buildings, a Lebanese security official said. Inmates of the overcrowded Roumieh prison east of Beirut had been rioting for days, burning mattresses and breaking windows. On Tuesday, prisoners took three guards hostage in one of the buildings. In another building, prisoners set fire to highly flammable material inside the kitchen, triggering a blaze. Thick black smoke billowed from the hilltop compound for several hours despite heavy rain. Relatives of prisoners outside the prison threw stones at police as they brought reinforcements to the prison. The security official said troops stormed the prison compound Tuesday evening in an effort to bring the situation under control. He said the hostages were freed and at least six inmates were wounded or suffered from smoke inhalation. Prison riots are not uncommon in Lebanon, where inmates often demand better conditions and reduced sentences. Interior Minister Ziad Baroud said Roumieh was built to take 1,050 prisoners but currently holds 3,700 inmates. He said that out of the total, only 721 have been convicted, while the rest are either awaiting trial or are now on trial. Earlier in the day, relatives of Roumieh inmates held a protest against prison conditions, briefly closing a main road and burning tires. State-run National News Agency said the relatives also briefly closed roads in different parts of the country on Monday and Tuesday night. Baroud said the families want authorities to “speed up the trials” of their relatives. Among the prison’s population are members of the al-Qaida-inspired Fatah Islam militant group, which fought the army inside a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon in the summer of 2007. Golly, wonder if they had anything to do with it...

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Al-Lino: Investigations Have Uncovered Sahmarani's Murderer

2010-12-29

[An Nahar] Security forces stated on Monday that the situation in the Ain al-Hilweh Paleostinian refugee camp is under control "and there are no negative repercussions to Ghandy al-Sahmarani's murder." They told the Central News Agency that the army has bolstered its presence at the entrance of the camp in anticipation of any development that may serve to destabilize the situation. Head of the Paleostinian Armed Struggle Mohammed Abdel Hamid Issa, also known as al-Lino, stressed that Fatah was not involved in the murder, adding that the situation is under control "as all Paleostinian factions seek to avert strife." A Lebanese security source told the news agency that Sahmarani and slain Fatah Islam bad turban, Abdel Rahman Awadh, had worked to execute attacks against the Lebanese army and United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society Interim Force in Leb. Awadh was killed by the Lebanese army in an ambush on August 14. The source clarified that Sahmarani was not killed by a gunshot to the head, but he was killed by hanging and by being beaten on the head by a sharp object. His hands and legs were then tied and his corpse was dumped in Ain al-Hilweh, it added. Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... Voice of Leb radio reported on Monday that investigations by the Paleostinian and Islamic forces in the camp have succeeded in uncovering Sahmarani's murderers. A source from the investigation said that those behind the murder are from Sahmarani's inner circles. Al-Lino also revealed that investigations have also uncovered the side behind the Sunday bombing of a shop owned by a Paleostinian Armed Struggle official Rasmi Nasrallah.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Lebanese Army Recaptures Prison Fugitive

2009-08-21

A senior Lebanese security official says army commandos have recaptured fugitive from an al-Qaeda-inspired group a day after he escaped from prison. The official says Taha al-Hajj Suleiman of the Fatah Islam group was captured Wednesday in the woods north of the Roumieh prison east of Beirut. Someone left a pick and a file in his birthday Koran? A day earlier, eight Fatah Islam staged a dramatic prison break but only Suleiman was able to escape. Police and army forces launched a search campaign in areas around the prison until Suleiman was captured. Fatah Islam fought a three-month battle against the army inside the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr el-Bared in northern Lebanon in 2007.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

18 killed, 40 wounded in Tripoli bus bombing

2008-08-13

A bomb exploded adjacent to a bus carrying civilians and members of the military during Wednesday morning rush hour in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, killing at least 18 people and wounding at least 40, security officials said. The dead included 10 off-duty soldiers. The bomb was planted on the side of a main street and went off as the bus passed by. The streets were filled with people heading to work, which contributed to the many casualties, the officials said. The military had no immediate comment. The security officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. The blast raised suspicions that al-Qaida-inspired Islamic militants may have sought revenge on the military for clashes last year at a nearby Palestinian refugee camp. But some local media speculated it may be aimed at undermining a visit later Wednesday by the Lebanese president to Syria to patch up stormy relations between the neighbors. Information Minister Tarek Mitri described the incident as a big terrorist explosion but would not speculate on who was behind it. "The hands of the criminals have hit in Tripoli against innocent soldiers and civilians," he told reporters in Beirut. "Once again, they want our country to be an arena for settling scores and battling for influence." Shattered glass could be seen in the Banks Street in Tripoli's center. Witnesses said fire engines and ambulances had rushed to the scene, while soldiers and policemen cordoned off the area to keep onlookers away and to investigate. The small public bus, which had been bringing passengers from the remote northernmost Akkar region, home to many military members, was riddled with shrapnel from the blast. Soldiers used sniffer dogs to search nearby parked car, as forensic experts in white uniforms, face masks and gloves sifted through the wreckage of the bus picking up evidence. Tripoli, 90 kilometers (53 miles) north of Beirut, is Lebanon's second-largest city with a mostly Sunni Muslim population, dominated by groups loyal to the Western-backed parliament majority. It has witnessed sectarian clashes between Sunni fighters and followers of the Alawite sect, an offshoot Shiite sect, in the past weeks that killed and wounded dozens of people. The city is also close to the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr el-Bared, which experienced deadly clashes in 2007 between Lebanese troops and members of the al-Qaida-inspired Fatah Islam group that left hundreds dead before the militants were defeated. During that fighting, the militants also were flushed out of the city. Fatah Islam group has claimed responsibility for a bomb blast that killed a soldier in Abdeh near Tripoli on May 31. Former Prime Minister Omar Karami - a prominent politician from Tripoli - said it is too early to speculate on the motive behind the explosion, but added that the high casualties among soldiers could mean the military was targeted and could be related to the 2007 Nahr el-Bared violence. The latest violence comes at an especially sensitive time for Lebanon. On Tuesday, after a five-day debate and weeks of negotiations that preceded it, the parliament approved a national unity government that gives the Iranian-backed Hezbollah opposition a more powerful say in the running of the country, including veto power over major decisions. The explosion also comes as President Michel Suleiman is expected on a landmark visit in neighboring Syria - the first visit by a Lebanese president in about three years. Ties have deteriorated since Syrian troops withdrew from Lebanon under international pressure in the wake of the Hariri assassination. Hariri's supporters blame Syria for the killing, while Damascus denies involvement.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Shaker al-Abssi slams Lebanon's Sunni leaders, Hezbollah chief

2008-06-11

Translated by Rantburg Translation Service The runaway leader of the al-Qaida-inspired Fatah Islam group lashed out at Lebanon's Sunni politicians and the country's Shiite Hezbollah hard boys, and threatened kabooms in a new audio posted Tuesday on the Internet and carried by Lebanese television stations. Shaker Youssef al-Absi said in the recording that time has now come for Dire Revenge™ against the "enemies of God" and added that kaboomers were ready for action. The authenticity of audio, posted on a web site commonly used by hard boys, could not be independently verified. It was the second posting by al-Absi, sentenced to death earlier this year by a Lebanese court for a 2007 double bus bombings that killed three people and wounded 20. Al-Absi remains on the lam after escaping last September from fierce fighting between Fatah Islam and the Lebanese army at the Nahr el-Bared Paleostinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon. Also in the audio, al-Absi claimed that Lebanese Sunni leaders and the head of the Shiite Hezbollah hard boy group, Hassan Nasrallah, seek to split the Sunni Muslim community, allegedly acting on American and Iranian orders to do this. He also criticized the Lebanese army for not taking any action when Hezbollah fighters and their allies took over much of Muslim west Beirut from pro-government Sunni gunmen during bitter fighting last month that brought Lebanon close to a new civil war. A Jordanian of Paleostinian origin, al-Absi specifically named Western-backed Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, and Parliament majority leader Saad Hariri, along with the Hezbollah chief in the audio. He also criticized Paleostinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is a Sunni. Their goal, he alleged, "is the same and it is to humiliate and split the nation of monotheism," a reference to Sunni Islam. "One side takes orders from (U.S. President George W.) Bush while the other takes orders from the Satan's ayatollahs in Tehran," he said, referring to top Shiite clerics in Iran, adding that Sunni "lions of monotheism will destroy the enemies of God, whoever they are .... The enemies of God will not be safe from the booby-traps of Iraq and the boomer battalions, wherever they are." Earlier this month, Fatah Islam claimed responsibility for a May 31 explosion that killed a Lebanese soldier in the northern town of Abdeh near the devastated Nahr el-Bared camp. Lebanese authorities have said that 222 Fatah Islam hard boys were killed in the Nahr el-Bared fighting and more than 200 were arrested, while 169 Lebanese soldiers died. Paleostinian officials said 47 Paleostinian civilians also died in the camp as Lebanese army besieged the hard boys holed up inside. Also Tuesday, an Islamic hard boy who was seriously wounded in the Paleostinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh in southern Lebanon died of his wounds, security officials said. Jalal Hassanein, a 27-year-old Paleostinian, was shot by unknown assailants Monday night, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Fatah al-Islam group claims responsibility for attack that killed Lebanese soldier

2008-06-03

A terrorist Islamic group that fought the Lebanese army last year claimed responsibility Monday for a recent explosion that killed one soldier north of the country, the state-run news agency said. Al-Qaida-inspired Fatah Islam group said it was behind Saturday's explosion in the northern town of Abdeh that killed one soldier. Fatah Islam said some of its members planted a bomb in the "Lebanese army intelligence den" and detonated it by remote control. State-run National News Agency said it received the Fatah Islam statement by fax. The agency did not say whether it verified the authenticity of the statement. On Saturday, military officials did not identify the cause of the blast that killed the soldier. A military statement identified the victim as Osama Ahmed Hassan, 24.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Lebanon arrests another Fatah al-Islam militant

2008-01-12

The Lebanese army arrested on Friday a suspected militant and a member of the Islamist group Fatah al-Islam which waged a 15-week a battle against the Lebanese army last summer in northern Lebanon, an army official said. Othman Turkmani, was detained in an army ambush on a street in the Bab el-Ramel neighborhood of the northern city of Tripoli, the official said. Turkmani wasn't armed at the time of his detention, he said. It was the third detention of Fatah al-Islam militants in northern Lebanon in two days. On Thursday, two Fatah al-Islam members were seized in separate incidents, including high-ranking militant Nabil Rahim who, security sources said, is known to have links with the al-Qaeda terror network. Rahim's wife was also detained. The security sources told the Al Hayat newspaper that Nabil Rahim, who was born in 1971, was always in contact with the second man in Fatah al-Islam Shehab al-Qadour, who was killed a few months ago as he was going to meet with Rahim. Rahim was responsible for training the Saudi militants in his apartment in Tripoli to send them to Iraq. The source explained that the organization's top official Sheikh Bassam Hammoud was detained in Saudi Arabia. The security sources revealed that they expect to extract more information on extremist groups in Lebanon from Rahim. Shehab al-Qadour, who goes by the code name of Abu Huerira, was a member of a Sidon Fatah al-Islam at Ain el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp before moving to north Lebanon's Nahr al-Bared camp. The al-Qaeda-inspired Fatah Islam group is an extremist organization that engaged the Lebanese army for 106 days of fierce fighting last year in the Nahr el-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in Tripoli. The battle ended when the army overran the camp on September 2, 2007 and declared victory. The army arrested many but some members including their leader Shaker al Absi were able to escape. Absi fled to Syria . The Nahr el Bared battle was bloody. According to the government 168 Lebanese soldiers died, 222 Fatah al-Islam terrorists were killed and 200 were arrested. Last week Absi threatened attacks against the Lebanese army : "Nahr al-Bared camp will stand witness to your shame until the mujahideen tread your (bodies) with their shoes," a speaker identified as Shaker al-Absi said in a 58-minute audio recording posted on a Web site used by al Qaeda and other Islamist groups on Monday. "This was only the beginning ... By God you will not live safely," he said. "The mill of war has started to grind ... between the infidels and the believers."

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Amnesty report criticizes Lebanon on alleged abuses in Palestinian camp

2007-11-03

The Lebanese government on Friday criticized this week's Amnesty International report on events in a northern Palestinian refugee camp, saying the report failed to highlight that Lebanon was subjected to terror attacks from militants holed up inside the camp. On Wednesday, the London-based human rights watchdog called on Lebanese authorities to investigate reports of looting and human rights abuses inside Nahr el-Bared camp after it fell into army hands. "The Lebanese government does not accept at all any violation of the law or human rights, especially against our Palestinian refugee brothers," the government said. "Lebanon was subjected to crimes carried by the terrorist gang Fatah Islam that attacked the Lebanese and Palestinian people," said a statement Friday by the a government agency that deals with Palestinian issues in Lebanon.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Families of terrorists deported from Lebanon back to Syria

2007-10-18

Eleven families of the militant movement Fatah al-Islam left Lebanon for Syria Wednesday following weeks of negotiations, a Lebanese border security source said. The families were among 17 who fled the fighting between the militants and the Lebanese army in north Lebanon and sought refuge at the al-Arqam mosque in Sidon. Six families stayed behind in Sidon, including that of Shaker al-Abbsi, the movement's leader who is still at large, for not having proper documents, the source said. "We have all the proper documents but our delays are for certain security measures," Abbsi's wife was quoted as saying. The families that were able to leave comprised either Syrian mothers and their children or Palestinians living in Syria, said the source who was at the Syrian-Lebanese border to oversee the crossing of the families. Fifteen weeks of battles between Lebanese troops and Fatah Islam militants in Nahr el-Bared ended with the army crushing the Islamic group on September 2. Around 222 militants were killed in the fighting while others were either captured or still at large such as Abbsi. Early Wednesday, the women who were clad in black from head to toe, boarded two General Security buses in front of the al-Arqam Mosque and left accompanied by two vehicles, one for the Lebanese Red Cross and another for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The women and children were evacuated by the Lebanese army from the camp in August. At the time 25 women and 38 children left the besieged camp. Their evacuation paved the way for the Lebanese army to crush the militants and take control of the camp. The source said the six families that remained in Sidon included four Jordanians which their country refused to receive and two Syrians who did not have the proper documents. Sheikh Ali al-Youssef member of the Palestinian Scholars' Association, who is negotiating the deal with the Lebanese officials, said contacts are underway with Jordanian and Syrian officials to allow the rest of the families to leave Lebanon.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

30 terrs arrested in Lebanon

2007-10-09

Authorities have arrested some 30 Islamic militants who allegedly plotted to bomb the main police headquarters in Beirut and attack Arab and European ambassadors in Lebanon, court and security officials said Monday. The 30 militants were detained nearly two months ago in and around the southern port city of Sidon when the Lebanese army was engaged in fierce fighting with militants of the al-Qaida-inspired Fatah al-Islam group in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon. Some of the arrested belong to Fatah al-Islam and the rest are members of another al-Qaida-inspired group, said the security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. Interrogation of the detained militants showed that they planned to blow up the headquarters of the Internal Security Forces with an explosives-laden military vehicle, the officials said. Police have since tightened security around its headquarters in Beirut. Concrete blocks have been set up around the building and people living in the vicinity have been barred from parking their cars. Officials said some of the militants were linked to a roadside bomb that struck a U.N. jeep in the village of Qassimiyeh in July near the southern port city of Tyre, causing damage to the vehicle but no casualties. The group was also planning to help some 200 Fatah Islam members and 50 other al-Qaida-inspired militants escape from the central Roumieh prison east of Beirut, according to officials. Prison security guards, backed by a group of army commandos, foiled an escape attempt last Thursday when relatives of the prisoners tried to storm the prison, the officials said.

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