Smoke Out of Beirut
21 May 2007 7:55 am by Taylor Marsh
Smoke Out of Beirut updated
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| VIDEO: MSNBC Report VIDEO: CNN Report |
A wanna be Al Qaeda terrorist group is wreaking hovoc in Lebanon.
Palestinian refugee cities, for lack of a better way to describe it, though some call them camps, have erupted
in violence in Lebanon. There are suspected Al Qaeda militants now inside. Over
66 people have been killed. It's reported to be the worse fighting in Lebanon
since the Lebanese civil war of 1975-90.
So far, much of the coverage has suggested that the group in question, known
as Fatah al-Islam, may be linked to the al-Qaida network. Nevertheless, informed
opinion suggests caution before drawing the simple conclusion that Fatah al-Islam
is merely Osama bin-Laden's latest local franchise.Fatah al-Islam is a breakaway of a Syrian-backed Palestinian organization
called Fatah-intifada, which itself split from the mainstream Palestinian
Fatah group in 1983. Fatah-intifada has little presence outside of the Palestinian
refugee camps of Lebanon and Syria, and is widely regarded as a tool of the
Syrian regime with little popular support. The group, led by a Palestinian
called Shakir al-Abssi, surfaced in the Nahr al-Bared camp last November and
is thought to contain around 100 fighters from the camp. The group includes
Sunni Islamists of a variety of nationalities, about half of whom are drawn
from the Sunni Lebanese community. Apart from Palestinians, there are also
said to be Syrian and Saudi citizens among its ranks. …
Steve Emerson, talking on MSNBC, said there has been a call put out for Al
Qaeda militants to flood the zone in Lebanon. No cooboration of that report
yet. He also said he was very surprised that Al Qaeda militants seemed to have “parity” with the Lebanese government in this fight.
The Lebanese government was evidently caught without their weapons by Fatah al-Islam, Emerson reported today. Their own intelligence services supposedly didn't even know Fatah al-Islam was anywhere near Tripoli. Fatah al-Islam is largely Palestinian, but it's a group with divided loyalties, because it is made up of so many different ethnic groups.
Tom Aspell, reporting from Tel Aviv, reminds us all through his reporting that there is an understanding that the Lebanese government are not allowed to impede the Palestinian cities (or camps), with a “no go” policy in place. It's likely how Fatah al-Islam got a foot hold. However, this situation demanded the Lebanese forces doing something dramatic.
In another event, CNN also reported just moments ago that there was a bank robbery over the weekend and the Lebanese forces happened on a cache of weapons in their pursuit of the robbers.
Right now the Lebanese forces have not been able to tamp down the fighting or the violence. The casualties are evenly divided, which is anything but good news. The Siniora government has a real mess on their hands yet again.
UPDATE II: As far as I've been able to discern, there is still no evidence that Syria is backing Fatah al-Islam. That's one reason I call them “wanna be Al Qaeda” militants. In fact, the more this story breeds the less convinced I become. After all, Syria backs Hezbollah, right? We're talking Shia, so why would they suddenly be in league with Sunnis? It's important to also remember the Israeli influence in the story itself. It's one reason I didn't capture video of a Lebanese government official talking about what's going on either. I've got some company in my assessment from Larry Johnson and Pat Lang. This phrase from Lang is the bottom line:
Standing on the sidelines, there are the 200,000 odd permanent Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. They are not Lebanese citizens. They have no political vote, are overwhelmingly Sunni, are excluded from good jobs, and therefore good housing. They are excluded from many Lebanese schools. They and those who came before them have been living in those camps on a kind of “dole” from the UN for a long time, many of them for 50 years. They have no prospects, zero. People who have no prospects are dangerous.
UPDATE: I need to add one aspect to this, which needs to be said. If Fatah al-Islam or any other Sunni militant group is gaining hold in the Palestinian cities, which keep as many as 50,000 people confined, it should surprise no one. The Palestinians in these cities are living inhumane lives from all accounts. They are prohibited from jobs and schooling, which leaves no hope for the future. This is a breeding ground for militancy. Again, the Israeli-Palestinian challenge continues to cause the world problems, with no end in sight.
