Al-Absi. leader of Fatah al-Islam, denies fighting in Iraq, but he did fight in Nicaragua! http://arablinks.blogspot.com/2007/05/nicaragua-veteran-finds-sudden-fame-in.html

rotflmao

excerpts from entries at
http://www.back-to-iraq.com/

May 21 from BEIRUT, reporting car bomb closeby:

I’d also like to write a little history on Fatah al-Islam. As the Lebanese Army fights a pitched battle with the Palestinian militant group, the question for many in Beirut — especially those who support the current government — is what role Syria may be playing in the current drama to the north.

The timing, according to some political observers, is telling coming as it does on the heels of the introduction of a draft resolution at the United Nations Security Council to set up an international tribunal that would try suspects in the murder of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005. Syria, which opposes the tribunal, could have pulled the strings on Fatah al-Islam, a group that government supporters say heeds its masters in Damascus...

But one longtime observer of the Palestinian camps and Islamist movements doesn’t see Syria’s direct involvement. Kassem Kassir, a journalist for the pro-government newspaper al Mustaqbal who is an expert on these groups and has interviewed members of the group in Nahr el-Bared, said Fatah al-Islam, and its leader Shaker al-Abssi are supported by Salafist groups in the Gulf, Iraq and Jordan that share al Qaida’s ideology more than they are by Syria. Al-Abssi’s link to Syria comes from the long history of attempts by Syria to use the Palestinians for its own purposes against Israel.

May 22 from NAHR EL-BARED:

Early Sunday morning, his four-story home was invaded by the jihadis, who forced him, his wife, his three daughters and his daughter-in-law into the basement before taking up sniper positions on his roof.

“They told us, ‘We won’t leave unless we’re dead,’” said Mearbani as he juggled cell phone calls from concerned relatives.

Three of the four were foreign, he said, saying he could tell from their accents that one was from Saudi Arabia, one was from Yemen and one was Sudanese. He said he couldn’t tell where the fourth was from.

Finally, after a terrifying night with his children huddled around him while shells fell around them, the women in the family — his wife and his daughter-in-law — went up to beg the Fatah al-Islam militants to leave them in peace.

They refused and soon the Lebanese Army was shelling his home.

May 24 from NAHR EL-BARED:

the Lebanese Army is showing signs of preparing for a showdown with the Fatah al-Islam jihadist group.

Trucks full of ammunition have been seen rumbling north on the road from Tripoli toward the camp. Many of the Palestinian refugees who are able to leave have left, leaving fewer civilian targets to be hit — although the toll on that end is already crushingly high,

US resupplies Lebanon army as skirmishes rattles truce
By Nazih Siddiq

NAHR AL-BARED, Lebanon, May 25 (Reuters) - The United States sent military aid to Lebanon on Friday and the Lebanese army deployed extra troops to a Palestinian camp where it has been battling Islamist militants this week.

A fragile truce held between the army and the Fatah al-Islam militant group in northern Lebanon at the Nahr al-Bared camp, where the faction is based.

The fighting has killed at least 33 soldiers and 25 militants -- Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war. Thousands of Palestinian refugees have fled the camp, where Palestinian sources say at least 11 civilians have been killed and 100 wounded.

UNRWA, the U.N. agency which cares for Palestinian refugees, said around 15,000 were still in the camp, home to some 40,000 before it came under heavy army shelling earlier in the week.

"The humanitarian situation in Nahr al-Bared is deteriorating," UNRWA spokeswoman Hoda Elturk said. "We have our trucks full of food and water ready," she said, but added: "It's not secure enough for our staff to enter."

Fatah al-Islam and the army exchanged heavy machinegun fire for half an hour on Thursday night. Sporadic skirmishes continued overnight but calm was restored on Friday morning.

Extra Lebanese soldiers arrived at the camp, which the army is not allowed to enter under a 1969 Arab agreement, witnesses said. The 40,000-strong army is already stretched with significant deployments along the border with Israel in south Lebanon, Syria to the north and east and in and around Beirut.

Many army units deployed in Beirut for months to stem rising sectarian tensions amid a deep political crisis, appear to have left their positions and headed north, witnesses said.

AIRLIFT

Beirut had requested more military aid from Washington after fighting erupted on Sunday. Security sources said the United States had notified the army that the supplies were en route.

At least four Arab military supply planes arrived at Beirut airport carrying ammunition from U.S. depots in the region, security sources said. At least two more flights were scheduled.

more
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L25210236.htm