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."