Lebanon Making Headway Against Al Quaeda

Who is Lebanon? Much of the world has thought of this small Mideast country as an unfortunate mess - but the eyes of the world are gaining a new perspective this week. The Lebanese Army is engaged in a serious fight with an al Quaeda sect - Fatah al Islam. This group is led by a Palestinian named Shahr al Abassi and came into existence only last year as a break-off from a Syrian-backed Sunni fighting group. Fatah al Islam is composed of Syrian, Lebanese, and Palestinian fighters. Lebanon's new nemesis was created in the image of al Quaeda, espousing al Quaeda beliefs and pursuing al Quaeda goals.

Fatah al Islam is sponsored by Syria - as most of the terrorists in the Mideast. The ultimate mission of this group is to bring disorder and unrest to Lebanon. The short term goal is to act as a distraction thereby preventing any investigation into the assassination of anti-Syrian leader Harriri - believed by the Lebanese and the free world to have been brutally murdered by the Syrians. The fighting is fierce. In one day of battle the death tally was nineteen for Fatah al Islam, thirteen for the Lebanese army, six civilians caught in the crossfire and sixty civilians wounded.

This particular battle took place in a refugee camp just outside of Tripoli. Fatah al Islam claims that their group is being targeted unjustifiably by the Lebanese army. Turns out that in this case members of the group had robbed a bank and the army was merely attempting to arrest the culprits. The emergence of Fatah al Islam in Lebanon and the response of the Lebanese army offer us several important insights into the new workings within Lebanon and the new reality of al Quaeda terrorists. Al Quaeda is in Lebanon, but they have been weakened by the American troops.

Today, al Quaeda is a very loosely linked structure. New terrorist groups all agree with the principles of al Quaeda - they are tutored through the al Quaeda DVD box set. They tune in to al Quaeda websites and receive spiritual support from the network that al Quaeda established and continues to develop. But this new generation of al Quaeda terrorists has never been to an al Quaeda training camp in Afghanistan. This new generation is locally trained and sponsored - and emerging in Lebanon. The Lebanese Army is at last making a stand for honor, country and control.