DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - LEBANON: SYMPATHY FOR JIHADISTS OF FATAH AL ISLAM IN LEBANON ON THE RISE

In Lebanon's camps, rising sympathy for Islamists
Recent battles between Lebanese police and Fatah al-Islam militants anger local residents.
By Nicholas Blanford

TRIPOLI, Lebanon - A two-month police crackdown against suspected extremists, and the killing of a Lebanese Islamist last week, is stirring anger among residents of this city and a backlash of sympathy for Islamic militants battling Lebanese troops near here.

Tripoli, a traditionally conservative Sunni Muslim city, has long been fertile ground for the growth of Islamic radicalism. And analysts and religious leaders here say that dozens of foreign militants – many of them veterans of the war in Iraq – have relocated to Tripoli in recent months, some of them joining Fatah al-Islam, a new Al Qaeda-linked faction bottled up in the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp, 10 miles to the north.

The presence of foreign fighters and the week-long battles between the Lebanese Army and Fatah al-Islam are giving rise to concerns that groups inspired by Al Qaeda are seeking to take advantage of Lebanon's political turmoil to establish a foothold here.

"I used to say that there was no Al Qaeda in Lebanon. And I believed that until last week. Now I am convinced that Al Qaeda is here in Tripoli and northern Lebanon," says Sheikh Omar Bakri, a cleric who runs a religious library in the Abi Samra district of Tripoli.

...


Pertinent Links:

1) In Lebanon's camps, rising sympathy for Islamists