Lebanon Sees Worst Fighting Since Civil War Ended

The Lebanese Army and armed members of a group calling itself Fatah al-Islam left dozens dead over the weekend. The Army got its backside kicked with about 20 dead and only 2 Fatah KIA. When Lebanese Army shells started falling near the Nahr al-Bared refugee the casualties were evened up. And several non-combatants wound up dead, too. Best of all, Syria may well be involved, or a new brand of Islamic radicalism is at fault. Welcome back to the 1980s.

The whole thing started with an attempted bank robbery. In the years since its civil war ended, Lebanon has been prosperous enough for banks to become worth robbing once more. Fatah al-Islam apparently didn’t like the police conduct in arresting the suspects, and when they started shooting, the Lebanese Army came to back up the police. From there, it got messy, and Fatah al-Islam’s guys have gone into the Nahr al-Bared camp, where thanks to understandings with the Palestinian authorities the Lebanese Army can’t follow. Hence the shelling near the camp.

These don’t seem to be home-grown loonies, of which Lebanon certainly has its share. Nayla Mouawad, Lebanese social affairs minister, said the militants have “Syrian allegiance and only take orders from Syria.” Lebanon’s national police commander, Major General Ashraf Rifi, agreed, “Perhaps there are some deluded people among them but they are not al-Qaida. This is imitation al-Qaida, a ‘Made in Syria’ one.” And the Syrians do have a habit of mucking around in Lebanon.

Syria is still smarting from the way it was shamed into leaving Lebanon after its security forces killed a former Prime Minister of Lebanon. Its intelligence apparatus remains in place most assuredly, and it is playing silly buggers in derailing as best it can the international investigation into the assassination. Naturally, Syria denies any involvement, and there is clearly a non-Syrian element to Fatah al-Islam. However, a Palestinian named Shaker al-Absi appears to have been a big shot in the group, and until a few months ago, he was in Syrian custody. When he was released, he went to Lebanon to set up Al-Qaeda style terror cells – or so say the Lebanese authorities.

In the end, it doesn’t matter much. Lebanon is one of those countries where other nations and movements fight out their battles. So it was in the Lebanese Civil War, and so it appears to be now in the fight between secularists, Salafis, and Syrian imperialists. Lebanon deserves better, but sometimes geographical proximity to the bad guys is enough to ruin a nation, again.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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