Nigeria: Who is Behind Fatah Al-Islam in Lebanon?

The whole world has been watching once again the carnage and mayhem which is ongoing in Tripoli, Lebanon. The fatah al-Islam is an activist group based in Nahr el Bared, Tripoli. Under their leadership Shakar el Abasi, they have waged war on the Lebanese army in the last two weeks which has displaced 25,000 people, with about 31,000 people trapped in the city. Also, they have succeeded in killing about 27 Lebanese soldiers including several Lebanese civilians.

The Lebanese army is still surrounding the camp and more reinforcements have been brought in. According to the AFP, Lebanon has given the Palestinian factions until the middle of the week to negotiate a peaceful end to the fighting.

Fouad Siniora also promised that the militants would be treated fairly if they surrendered or else the army will deal with the matter. The Lebanese government has been receiving support from the Druze leader, Walid Jumblatt who is strongly supporting the coalition government. According to Jumblat, there are proposals for military solution.

The leader of Fatah al Islam said in a video message that his group will fight Jews, Americans and their allies. In reaction to the statement, Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abass disassociated all the Palestinian movement from Fatah al-Islam including his own Fatah organisation. So who are the Fatah al-Islam activists? The Nahr el-Bared refugee camp is one of several camps for Palestinian refugees who fled Palestine during and after the 1948 first Arab/Israeli war. This was during the formation of the state of Israel. There are other Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon but the fear is that it may have a ripple effect on other camps if it is not handled carefully.

There are several theories making the round concerning the ongoing crisis. One theory is that Al Quada has penetrated the Palestinian camp in order to cause chaos within the already embattled Fuoad Siniora government. The second theory is that the Syrian government displeased with their exit after al-Hariri murder through their intelligence organisation armed and trained the fighters so as to weaken the power of the coalition government. The third theory is that the al-Hariri family funded and is behind the activists so as to use them as a protective shield.

The final theory is that the Americans through the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) funded and trained the Tripoli fighters for several reasons; firstly, to act as a neutralising force against Hizbollah army fighting the Israelis in Southern Lebanon. The idea is that if the Lebanese government or perhaps the UN succeeds in disarming the Fatah al Islam in Tripoli, then the disarming of the Hizbollah will be next. On the other hand, the Hizbollah are mainly Shitte supported and armed by Iran and Syria, the Tripoli fighters or the Fatah al Islam are mainly Sunnis. However, if the CIA actually has a hand in training and arming the Tripoli fighters, it has already backfired on them because they are fighting and killing Lebanese soldiers who have American support.

Already Sheikh Nasra-llah, the Hizbollah leader has accused Siniora government of being weak and inept. As clever as he is, Nasrallah lent a weak support to Siniora's government by calling for the disarming and trial of those who attacked the Lebanese army. He advised against the storming of the refugee camp by the Lebanese army. Already, Nasrallah condemned the Americans for flying in relief supplies for the refugees.

Once again, Lebanese civilians are caught up in the cross fire. In fact, the Lebanese government refused to grant full citizenship to the refugees so as not to alter the fragile ethnic composition of Lebanon. The refugees are not allowed to have juicy jobs and the UN relief agency have been in these refugee camps for several decades. The ripple effect of these problems is that the camp has become a breeding camp for fighters and disgruntled elements which has been penetrated by several groups such as Al Qaeda, the Americans and the Druze militia. In the end, the resolve of the Fatah al-Islam in Lebanon to fight the Israeli can no longer be realised.

In Palestine, the fighting between the Hamas and Fatah is draining their energy, determination and unity to attack a dreaded enemy, Israel. If there is anybody who is benefiting from the crisis, it is Israel.

Lebanon is embroiled in crisis. Lebanon has witnessed a lot of crisis such as the Israeli invasion in 1982 under the command of Ariel Sharon, the Lebanese civil war and the one month Israeli versus Hizbollah war that saw the destruction of several parts of Southern Lebanon. A lot of proxy war has been fought in Lebanon.

Under the late al-Hariri, Lebanon witnessed a lot of reconstruction after the civil war. Since Syria and Iran cannot openly attack Israel, they have been arming and training the Hizbollah to fight a proxy war for them.

The fragile political system in Lebanon is once again on trail. Lebanon is a melting point of Christians, Muslims and in fact both western and Middle Eastern culture and ideology.

It is quite unfortunate that a crisis of this nature will rear its ugly head once again. As Americans, French, Syrians and other guerrilla movement fight to have their sway in Lebanon, the Lebanese people need peace. In fact, the region as a whole comprising Israel, Lebanon, Palestine, urgently needs peace.

For peace to be achieved in the Middle East there must be comprehensive peace among the belligerents. All the armed groups in Lebanon such as Fatah al Islam, Hizbollah should understand that the only legitimate government the whole world knows is the Lebanese government.

Source : allafrica.com