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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanon arrests Islamists plotting attacks
2009-07-22
[Al Arabiya Latest] The Lebanese army said on Tuesday it had uncovered a militant Islamist network that had been plotting to carry out attacks against United Nations peacekeepers in southern Lebanon and the army itself.

The army, in a statement, said it had detained the cell's 10 members. A security source said the men belonged to the al-Qaeda-inspired Fatah al-Islam group which fought a 15-week battle with the army in 2007.

" Our investigation has shown that this network was planning to smuggle wanted terrorists out of Ain al-Helweh "
Army statement
The network, made up of members of different Arab origins and most of whom came from outside Lebanon, also planned to help "wanted terrorists" get out of the Ain al-Helweh Palestinian refugee camp where many of them are holed up. "Our investigation has shown that this network was planning to smuggle wanted terrorists out of Ain el-Helweh (refugee camp) ... smuggle Fatah al-Islam fighters into Ain al-Helweh, to carry out attacks from Lebanon on targets abroad and create terrorist cells to monitor UNIFIL and the army in order to carry out terrorist attacks on them," the army statement said.

The security source told Reuters the ringleader of the arrested group, a Syrian national, had been found with six forged passports. "He travelled to six Arab countries in 15 days. His group was planning several attacks against a wide range of targets," the source said. Many of the men had taken up residence in Christian areas east of Beirut, he said.

The army statement said the network was also plotting attacks outside Lebanon.

Ain el-Helweh, located near the southern coastal town of Sidon, is the largest and most violent of Lebanon's 12 Palestinian refugee camps. At least 430 people were killed in the fighting between Fatah al-Islam and the army. More than half of those killed were fighters from the group and 170 were soldiers.

In December, the group said it feared its leader Shaker al-Absi had been killed in Syria and named another member to lead the group. Last year, Syrian state television showed 12 alleged members of the group confessing that they had helped plan a suicide car bombing in Damascus that killed 17 people in September 2008.
Posted by:Fred

#1  Fatah al-Islam: i.e. the Syrian expeditionary corp. Looks like Bashir took Obama's kowtowing to heart.
Posted by: ed   2009-07-22 11:08  

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