Yemeni AQ in Lebanon, Syria
In addition to the growth of Salifism and Islamist militancy engendered by the passions aroused by the Iraq war, Saudi Arabia has been fishing in troubled waters by encouraging the growth of each in northern Lebanon. Riyadh has paid for the construction of new mosques in Tripoli and reportedly has assisted militants residing in the northern territory abutting Syria (The Economist, October 2; New York Times, October 16). According to the media, Lebanese and Syrian sources are reporting that Saudi National Security Chief Prince Bandar Bin Sultan is supervising the Saudis’ pro-Salafist agenda in Lebanon, a program which includes sponsoring Islamist terrorist operations in Syria (Al-Akhbar [Beirut], September 30). Riyadh’s activities in northern Lebanon hold the promise of fulfilling two longstanding Saudi goals: (1) creating a viable, well-armed, and militant Sunni Salafi movement in Lebanon as a military counterweight to the Shia Hezbollah, and (2) to enable Riyadh to cause domestic instability for their Syrian enemy (Middle East Times, June 30).
The turmoil of post-Syrian Lebanon also has been exploited by al-Qaeda forces based in Iraq. Multiple media reports indicate that al-Qaeda fighters – mostly Yemenis, Saudis, Jordanians who left Iraq to avoid the U.S. surge and its surrogate Sunni fighters – went to both Syria and Lebanon (Naharnet, September 12). They have established themselves in Lebanon along the Syrian border, in Tripoli and in the Ain al-Hawah Palestinian refugee camp; they also have built working relationships with the Sunni militant groups Asbat al-Ansar and Fatah-al-Islam group. In 2007, the latter fought the Lebanese army for fifteen weeks at the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp (Naharnet, June 16).
In the face of growing Salafist and al-Qaeda influence, one Lebanese academic claimed, “Security in Iraq is improving, but the militants are being driven across the border. There are a large number of militants coming into Lebanon and Syria, and our countries are paying the price for what is happening in Iraq” (BBC, September 29). The academic’s words are an apt description of the westward-bound jihad highway for Sunni mujahideen that the United States and its allies have unwittingly built across Iraq.
DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syria said on Thursday that an Islamist militant group active in neighboring Lebanon was behind a suicide car bomb attack that killed 17 people in Damascus in September.
State television showed what it said were 12 members of Fatah al-Islam, an al Qaeda-inspired group that first emerged in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, confessing that they had helped plan the September 27 attack on an intelligence complex in the Syrian capital.
Abdel Baqi Hussein, a Syrian who identified himself as the security coordinator of Fatah al-Islam, said the explosives had been smuggled from Lebanon and the suicide bomber was a Saudi national called Abu Aisha.
“The objective was to rattle the Syrian regime,” Hussein said.
He said he had discussed logistics with several Fatah al-Islam members in Lebanon, and that the car used in the bombing was a stolen Iraqi-registered taxi that had operated on the Damascus-Baghdad route.
Syria’s ties with Saudi Arabia and Iraq have been tense in recent years. Several Iraqi officials accuse Damascus of turning a blind eye to Islamist fighters crossing into Iraq.
Saudi Arabia is unhappy with Syria’s support for the Lebanese Shi’ite movement Hezbollah and the suspected role of Syrian officials in the 2005 assassination of Lebanese statesman Rafik al-Hariri. Damascus denies involvement.
Syrian officials have warned of what they termed a terrorist threat from Lebanon, and linked the September 27 bombing to attacks on the Lebanese army that killed 22 people in August and September.
The 12 people shown on state television were mostly Syrians and Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon or Syria. There was one Yemeni national (ed-Nabel Aldhahab) and a woman described as the daughter of Fatah al-Islam’s leader Shaker al-Absi, who is at large.
It was an unusual hour of primetime television programming.
On Thursday night, Syrian state television showed a long montage of interviews with several men and woman – all alleged members of Fatah al-Islam, a militant group with links to al-Qaeda.
Their testimonies were interrupted by sombre music laid over the pictures of the aftermath of the car bomb attack, which killed 17 people, mostly civilians, in Damascus in late September.
Speaking against the same black backdrop, the men admitted responsibility for the explosion, the aim of which, they said was to harm the Syrian government.
The relationship between Syria and Lebanon has improved, but it is still full of mistrust
Fury sweeps Syria after US raid
One aspect of the “confessions” may be particularly damaging, and may have wider regional implications.
According to the televised testimonies, the explosives used in the attack were brought from northern Lebanon, where Fatah al-Islam, it is claimed, received financial support from the party of the country’s pro-Western Sunni leader Saad Hariri.
According to the Syrian television the man who carried out the attack came from Saudi Arabia.
The Syrian authorities gave no details on how they obtained these confessions, and it is not clear when and under what circumstances those who appeared on television were detained.
‘Lies’
Mr Hariri’s supporters in Beirut have already labelled the broadcast as a “festival of lies” but analysts here believe that these testimonies will weaken the position of Saad Hariri and his party ahead of the crucial parliamentary election in the spring.
They are also likely to embarrass Mr Hariri’s allies in Saudi Arabia.
People in Damascus were deeply shocked by the rare attack
In 2005, Saad Hariri’s father, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, died in a car bomb attack that many in Lebanon blamed on the Syrian government. Damascus has always denied any involvement.The combination of public protest and international pressure sparked by Rafik Hariri’s death forced Syria to end its 30-year military presence in Lebanon.
The relationship between the neighbours has since improved, but it is still full of mistrust.
Lebanon’s anti-Syrian politicians have long blamed Damascus for being the force behind Fatah al-Islam and stirring trouble in Lebanon in an attempt to continue to exert political pressure on its smaller neighbour.
But Syrian officials say that Damascus bombing shows that Syria is the victim of terrorism and not its source.
US strike
Fatah al-Islam gained prominence in 2007, when the group’s militants fought a three month long battle against the Lebanese army in the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon.
The uprising was put down, at a cost of almost 400 lives on both sides, however in the last few months there have been new attacks on the Lebanese army in the north of the country and Damascus has expressed concerns that northern Lebanon was becoming a source of extremism and a threat to Syria’s national security.
Damascus is especially eager to make this point in the aftermath of the US military attack which killed eight people in a Syrian village near the border with Iraq in October.
Washington, which has long accused Damascus of allowing militants to cross into Iraq, said the raid targeted an al-Qaeda operative.
Parting gift
The US attack came at the time of a new dialogue between Syria and Europe – something the Syrians are keen not to see derailed.
One Syrian official described the attack as a “goodbye present from President Bush” who was angry at Damascus because of its refusal to play by the rules that “Bush administration had been trying to set in the Middle East”.
“Once the new administration is in place in Washington things may change,” the official source said.
With Barak Obama’s election victory Syrian officials are hoping for a dramatic improvement in relations with Washington, which could in turn change the regional dynamic as well.
Damascus will try to use Thursday’s broadcast to show that it is on the “right” side of the so-called war against terrorism and that it is invested in being a constructive regional player.
But while the rhetoric may be changing the questions surrounding Thursday’s “confessions” are a reminder of the inflexible and secretive nature of the Syrian state.
