MUST READ: AL-QAEDA & FATAH AL-ISLAM LAUNCH NEW SERIES OF ATTACKS IN LEBANON

Al-Qaeda and Fatah al-Islam Launch New Series of Attacks in Lebanon
By Pete Ajemian

Recent terrorist attacks targeting the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and U.S. embassy personnel in Beirut come as security measures are heightened in response to a series of assassinations and a rapidly deteriorating political crisis in the country. While UNIFIL forces have been targeted previously since their deployment under UN Security Council Resolution 1701 in 2006, the attempt to hit U.S. embassy personnel is the first attack on U.S. interests in 23 years. The targeting of foreign entities in Lebanon presents additional challenges for a country already facing a litany of threats to its own security. Although no one has yet claimed responsibility for either bombing, media statements issued by al-Qaeda and al-Qaeda-inspired entities prior to these attacks suggest that these groups have been looking to undertake such action against foreign interests in Lebanon for some time. The wounding of Irish members of UNIFIL by a roadside improvised explosive device (IED) came less than two weeks after Osama Bin Laden issued an online audio statement condemning the international peacekeeping force in Lebanon. Another recent online statement by an individual claiming to be Shaker al-Abbasi, the leader of Fatah al-Islam, renewed threats against the Lebanese Army (LA) and derided its leader and presidential compromise candidate, General Michel Suleiman for allegedly having political dealings with the United States (The Daily Star, January 9, 12; Reuters, January 7).

These statements have been accompanied by car bomb attacks over the past month targeting key figures in Lebanon’s security establishment. The first was the assassination of LA General Francois El-Hajj on December 12, 2007. El-Hajj, who led the military campaign against Fatah al-Islam at the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp, was also expected to become the next commander of the LA after Suleiman’s presidential nomination (Elaph, December 12, 2007; Al-Akhbar, December 13, 2007). A more recent attack last week killed Captain Wissam Eid, a key terrorism investigator in the Interior Security Forces’ (ISF) intelligence branch. Captain Eid had been targeted previously and played a critical role as a communications specialist in the investigation of several attacks that have occurred since 2005. These included the assassination of former PM Rafiq Harriri and the Ain Alaq bus bombings early last year in which Fatah al-Islam was implicated (The Daily Star, January 26; An-Nahar [Beirut], January 26; Al-Mustaqbal, March 16, 2007).

While attacks on the LA and the ISF have made the overall security situation increasingly complex, recent indictments and arrests of remnants of Fatah al-Islam and al-Qaeda affiliated entities in Lebanon suggest that these groups remain a continuing threat.

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1) Al-Qaeda and Fatah al-Islam Launch New Series of Attacks in Lebanon