200 Militants Form Islamist Group Amid Report to Assassinate Lebanese Figures

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Syrian President Bashar Assad was reported on Wednesday to have sent about 200 terrorists to Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon to assassinate 36 Lebanese figures.
The anti-Syrian daily Al-Mustaqbal said Assad's "terrorist plot" was part of a propaganda prepared by the Syrian president and his Foreign Minister Walid Moallem.

It said Assad authorized the terrorist group, which was part of Fatah-Uprising, the Syrian-backed faction which broke away from Yasser Arafat's mainstream Fatah group, to carry out the assassinations.

Al Mustaqbal said the Assad plot was revealed four days ago when two men, arrested on charges of killing two Palestinian activists in the Beddawi refugee camp in north Lebanon, acknowledged to the Lebanese Intelligence Service that they belonged to Fatah-Uprising, which is led by Abou Moussa.

The arrested men said the Syrian intelligence has asked them to coordinate with the faction's second-in-command, Abou Khaled al-Emleh.

It identified the men as Syrian Hussam Mohammed Siyam and Mohammed Saleh, a Saudi, adding that they hold legitimate Syrian passports issued by authorities in Damascus.

Al Mustaqbal said the two men confirmed that they were part of the 200-strong terrorist group that came to Lebanon from Damascus. The detainees admitted that 150 of them were deployed at what they called "Samed" position in Beddawi, and another 50 at the "Samed" position in Beirut's Borj al-Barajneh refugee camp.

It said the investigation also showed that the terrorist group was "suddenly renamed Fatah-Islam," which is led by Mahmoud Kolaghassi, a prominent Syrian intelligent agent.

It said Fatah-Uprising was quick to launch a campaign saying its posts have been "taken up" and that al-Emleh had nothing to do with them anymore.

A senior PLO official on Wednesday confirmed that about 200 militants arrived recently in Lebanon.

"About 200 armed elements came to Lebanon over several phases," Khaled Aref, of the Palestinian Liberation Organization in Lebanon, told Agence France Presse.

He said the militants first joined the Damascus-based "Fatah-Intifada in Lebanon, but a few days ago, they announced their secession at the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp" in northern Lebanon.

"They declared that they have formed a new movement called Fatah-Islam," he said, adding that the militants were Palestinian, Lebanese and from a number of other Arab countries.

"We don't know their real allegiance," he said, without wishing to reveal the countries where the militants came from.

A statement from the pro-Syrian Fatah-Intifada on Wednesday said "Fatah-Islam has no links with Fatah-Intifada."

It said Fatah-Islam was headed by Shaker Issa, a former Fatah-Intifada official "who has been expelled a while ago."(Naharnet-AFP)

Beirut, 29 Nov 06, 14:01


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