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Lebanon’s Struggle Magnifies Problems Throughout The Middle East

Angelique van Engelen - 9/6/2007

The Lebanese army’s victory over the 500-strong Fatah al Islam group might have wiped out the newly established terrorist cell in the space of three months, but Lebanon’s 6-month old political impasse still needs sorting. The country’s muddled situation can be seen as a microcosm of the problems in the Middle East where political gridlocks are tighter than ever and where extremism is flourishing on the ground.

The 106-day battle in the Northern Lebanese camp Nahr al Bared has purportedly rooted out Fatah al Islam completely. The group’s leader, the now deceased Shaker al Abssi, claimed his mission was to ‘bring a religious element to the Palestinian cause’. When he was reported dead last Sunday, his brother told an AFP reporter that he had been driven to extremism by the hopelessness of the Palestinian people’s situation.

The Lebanese army’s siege against Fatah al Islam has drawn attention to questions regarding Lebanon’s own internal situation and surrounding nations’ involvement with terrorist groups in Lebanon. There are persistent reports in the media quoting intelligence indicating that the group was sponsored by Syria, by Iran, by the Lebanese government itself, and by Al Qaeda. There is also evidence that the group robbed a bank before the fighting broke out and made away with a substantial amount in cash.

The Lebanese army’s top official Commander Gen. Michel Suleiman told his soldiers they were fighting an Al Qaeda group. But not all the soldiers were really sure this was the case. Abssi frequently denied direct links with Al Qaeda on an organizational level. Yet he’s also on the record as saying he "agrees with the aim of fighting infidels". What’s more, Fatah al-Islam statements have appeared on Islamist Web sites known to publish al-Qaeda statements, Reuters says.

Judging from reports about Abssi’s track record as a militant fighter, he was well-trained at organising his cronies. A soldier speaking to AFP relayed his conversation last weekend with a captured militant; "Once we captured an underground shelter and inside we found a large amount of food and power generators." Abssi gave money to his militants and told them 'you're on your own', the soldier said.

A few other reports indicate that the Lebanese government itself had supported (Sunni) Fatah al Islam to counterbalance Hezbollah, which groups militants adhering Shiite Islam.

Wikipedia’s article about Fatah al Islam cites a researcher at the American University of Beirut, Franklin Lamb, who claims that highly placed US officials negotiated with Lebanese government official Saad Hariri and the Saudis, to slush funds to Fatah al-Islam. Given Abssi’s alleged involvement in the killing of Laurence Foley, a US diplomat, it could figure; he’s sure to have been on the US intelligence services’ radar screens. The article cites investigative journalist Seymour Hersh as detailing that United States Vice President Dick Cheney, Deputy National Security Advisor Elliot Abrams, Saudi National Security Adviser Prince Bandar bin Sultan, were in on the deal to provide covert funding for Fatah al-Islam.

Various other reports however indicate the Syrian government was supporting the group. It allegedly funded it so it would destabilize Lebanon. It is vehemently denied by the Syrians, who say that Fatah al Islam members are wanted terrorists in Syria. Which is slightly odd, because the Syrians released Abssi from jail. The executive body chairman of the Lebanese Forces, Samir Geagea told media sources on the record of his surprise over this. Abssi, at the time of his release from a Syrian jail was already an extremist leader and also the recipient of a death sentence for allegedly killing Foley, the US diplomat in Jordan in 2002. The Syrian decision to free Abssi is all the more strange because it regularly sentences (way less extreme) Muslim Brotherhood activists to death, or at best to hard labor.



Which group(s) really empowered Fatah al Islam, we’ll likely never know. If the Lebanese government funded the group, others in the government must have thought this to be a bad thing because the army mustered up remarkable vigor in stamping it out. Commander Gen. Suleiman, who leads an army that is in significant portions made up of Hizbollah supporters, said that ‘the sacrifices made in the confrontation remain much less than the price that the nation would have paid had the hand of terror remained loose’. Some 163 soldiers were killed and 400 to 500 were wounded. Terrorist losses totaled 222. Those that are alive are reported to have fled the country. The anonymous soldier speaking to AFP highlighted the confusion that was felt by the troops. He said soldiers feared an endless battle that was a political issue rather than a chase for purported terrorists.

Abssi’s personal history shows how divided the various Palestinian fighter factions on the ground are. His decision to run his own show was a direct result of his anger over the hand over of two members of Fatah al Intifadah to Lebanese military intelligence by a Palestinian refugee camp’s leadership in Tripoli (Lebanon) shortly after his arrival in Lebanon.

Abssi’s afilliation with radical Palestinian organisations started in the early Eighties with Fatah, the main faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Fatah sent him to train as a military pilot in Lybia. He was still a member of Fatah when Israel when invaded Lebanon to drive out the PLO in 1982 and fought in the war. A year later, Abssi established links with Fatah al-Intifada, a splinter Fateh movement. It is believed that he then moved to Damascus, where he became close to Fatah al-Intifada's number two in command, Abu Khaled al-Omla. This leader helped him to get to Lebanon in 2004, after he spent time in jail there and was sentenced to death by a Jordanian court. In May 2006, Al-Abssi became a wanted man by the Syrians after his involvement in the killing of another man sought by the Syrians.

The Nahr al Bared fight has drawn relatively little international attention. Anyone keeping up with the story over the past months will have been once again witness to a confused mishmash of action, politics and issues that’s become the hallmark of most developments in the Middle East. The rise of Al Qaeda-linked groups wouldn’t be too surprising for an area where extremism makes for every day news headlines. However these groups will not be able to count on public support; most Arabs are loath to see the Palestinian cause linked with Al Qaeda. The Arab League echoed this when they issued a strong condemnation of anyone linking Palestinian issues with Al Qaeda.

Lebanon is currently in a political gridlock over choosing a new head of state succeeding Emile Lahoud whose term as President expires in November. It’s parliament has been paralysed since November 2006, when pro-Syrian opposition forces, led by Hizbullah, withdrew six ministers from the government. Lebanese Hizbullah-led opposition parties wanted a new national unity government ahead of the expiry of the current President’s term next November. They insisted that the new government would need one third of the Cabinet (which they scored in 2005) so it could veto the next Presidential candidate. A month after they withdrew their ministers, they began the ‘2006–present Lebanese revolt’, a series of protest sit-ins. This has continued until recently.

Pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud has confirmed he is to appoint army commander Gen. Suleiman as his provisional successor if the warring political sides fail to agree on a permanent head of state.



At the moment, parties are negotiating abandoning the revolt in return for consensus over the next president. Suleiman is marketed by Lahoud as a ‘compromise candidate’, but some observers say he’s the Syrian and Iranian candidate of choice. The European Union appears to be buying it. The EU’s Xavier Solana has said that the EU will work for electing a president ‘in line with the constitution’. The deal that Berri has secured might be the most workable option, because all the parties agree. The anti-Syrian, Christian majority has enough votes in parliament to propose a candidate but not enough to secure a quorum to choose a President.

In the meantime, real sentiment among the Palestinian Arab population is edging more and more toward extremism. This will be a major issue in the upcoming peace talks in November that the US is pushing for and which also involves the myriad problems besetting Palestine rule in Gaza. Hamas won the January 2006 elections and attempted to violently take control of the Gaza Strip six months later after Fatah refused to hand over the power. Fatah then sacked Hamas officials. They were replaced by Fatah and independent politicians, but Hamas contests the move.le