The fugitive leader of the shadowy militant organization Fatah Islam openly embraces Osama bin Laden and has recruited Arab fighters to carry out attacks around the region. The little known about Shaker al-Absi has raised concerns that he is building an al-Qaida-style branch in the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr el-Bared — a potentially explosive new element in already volatile Lebanon.So far, he has not gained the reach or strength of militants like former al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, according to Western intelligence and local officials.
Lebanese security officials see another cause behind the rise of Fatah Islam. They accuse
Al-Absi set up shop in the refugee camp last fall after arriving from Syria, where he spent a number of years, some of them in prison. In Nahr el-Bared — safe from Lebanese authorities, who cannot enter Palestinian refugee camps — he built up his organization. Lebanese officials have said they believe he has about 100 fighters, including militants from Saudi Arabia, Yemen and other Arab countries. One of his followers, killed in fighting Sunday, was suspected in a foiled plot to bomb trains in Germany last year, Lebanese officials said.
Al-Absi has denied in media interviews that he has direct links to al-Qaida and insisted his movement's aim was to "liberate Palestine."
"There is no organizational relationship with al-Qaida, but we are in agreement to fight the infidels. This is the ambition and doctrine of every Muslim — to fight the enemies," he told Al-Jazeera television earlier this year. "The only way to achieve our rights is by force," he said in a recent interview with The New York Times. "This is the way America deals with us. So when the Americans feel that their lives and their economy are threatened, they will know that they should leave."
But unlike traditional Palestinian militant groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad, al-Absi has for years been interwoven with the al-Qaida-linked underground, reportedly visiting Iraq and Afghanistan and associating with the late al-Zarqawi, one of al-Qaida's most brutal leaders. Al-Absi is wanted in
Details from the Jordanian indictment paint a picture of al-Absi's links. According to Jordanian prosecutors, the plot began in 1999, when al-Absi met with Libyan militant Salem bin Suweid in Syria. The two men and a Syrian, Mohammed Tayyoura, allegedly agreed to carry out military attacks on Americans and Jews living in Jordan.
Over the next few years, the three began preparing the attacks, with al-Zarqawi mapping out plans and providing financing to buy weapons, the indictment said. Al-Absi sent money to bin Suweid and arranged weapons and explosives training in Syria for the other suspects, it said.
When Foley was gunned down in the Jordanian capital in October 2002, al-Absi was being held in a Syrian prison after authorities there arrested him for allegedly plotting terror attacks in Syria against U.S. and other Western targets, a Jordanian security official said.
Al-Absi dropped from view after being let go by Syria in 2005 then resurfaced in Lebanon last fall, the Jordanian official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to talk to the press. His time in Syria has fueled Lebanese accusations that Damascus is behind Fatah Islam. But Syria insists the group is a danger to it as well. Syria's U.N. ambassador, Bashar Ja'afari, said Monday that Fatah Islam leaders were jailed in Syria for several years. He said that after they were released, Syria discovered they were still involved in terror activities and tried to re-arrest them, but they escaped.
A U.S. counterterrorism official called al-Absi a double threat from his past in Syria and his al-Qaida connections. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said al-Absi had not yet shown an ability to mount major terror operations, but added that it would be dangerous to wait for the group to prove itself. "That is too late," the official said.