Posted on 05/24/2007 7:05:22 PM PDT by blam
Militants 'will fight to the last drop of blood'
By Harry de Quetteville in Shatila camp, Beirut
Last Updated: 1:20am BST 25/05/2007
Islamic militants besieged inside a refugee camp in Lebanon will fight "to the last drop of blood", supporters of their leader said yesterday.
Some of the refugees who left the Nahr al-Bared camp. Thousands remain trapped inside as the militants threaten to fight on
The warning came as Lebanese troops clashed again with the Fatah al-Islam fighters led by Shaker al-Absi in the Nahr al-Bared camp on the outskirts of Tripoli.
Al-Absi, a 52-year-old jet pilot turned Islamic extremist, has rallied a band of self-proclaimed jihadis from across the Arab world after arriving in Lebanon shortly before the cross-border battles with Israel last summer.
Ibrahim abu Mohamed, who remembers meeting al-Absi, said in a Beirut room festooned with Palestinian flags: "They will fight to the last drop of blood. They are religious people who love to be martyrs for Islam. They want to meet God."
Despite his limited number of followers, al-Absi's battle with the Lebanese army around Nahr al-Bared has left more than 70 people dead and forced thousands of refugees to flee. It is feared that the stand-off could spark yet more ethnic and sectarian infighting in the already battered coastal state.
While al-Absi, a Palestinian born in the West Bank, has dedicated his life to fighting Israel, the aims of Fatah al-Islam are more closely linked to the global ideology of al-Qa'eda.
"We want to liberate Holy ground beginning with Lebanon and ending with Jerusalem," Abu Salim Taha, one of its fighters, said yesterday from inside Nahr al-Bared.
"We want Sharia law not atheist law. Every land Islam has entered must return to Muslim hands."
Al-Absi, who has previously called for attacks on American interests and seeks to turn Lebanon into an Islamic state, began preparing for the current showdown almost a year ago. That was when he arrived in Shatila refugee camp near Beirut, home to tens of thousands of Palestinians.
There he assumed the command of a militant group known as Fatah al-Intifada, itself a 1980s offshoot of the mainstream Palestinian Fatah movement then led by Yasser Arafat.
Fatah al-Intifada has long-forged ties to Syria, where al-Absi lived for a decade before moving to Lebanon. At the end of last year, al-Absi split from Fatah al-Intifada to form the more radical Fatah al-Islam.
Speculation has risen that he and his group are tools of the Syrian regime in the complex struggle for power and influence in the Middle East.
Syria is to face renewed pressure over its alleged role in the assassination of Rafik Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister, when the United Nations Security Council decides next week whether to create a tribunal to bring prosecutions over the killing. To many, the timing of al-Absi's uprising seems suspicious. To those who know him however, the greying, fit and sometimes bearded al-Absi, who trained as a pilot with the Libyan air force in the 1970s, is loyal only to God. "He has a very special personality," said Ibrahim abu Mohamed, the security chief for Fatah al-Intifada in Shatila. "He is modest, forgiving and likes to do good deeds. But if anyone insults God in front of him he will kill them."
Meanwhile, a burst of fresh fighting was reported in Nahr al-Bared last night despite a ceasefire declared by the militants on Tuesday. Tensions mounted during the day after Lebanese leaders vowed to crush the Islamists.
"We will put an end to the terrorist phenomenon without hesitation," Fuad Siniora, the Lebanese prime minister, said after his defence minister issued an ultimatum for the militants to surrender or face another attack.
Sounds good to me, since most of it will be *their* blood.
"Every land Islam has entered must return to Muslim hands."
Just like Hitler, they aren't shy about telling the world their intentions. But as in Hitler's case, the world doesn't seem interested in listening.
Are those idiots familiar with the expression...
"Works for me!" ?
Good luck with that, abu...
Four Palestinians killed near Syria-Iraq border (Fatah al-Islam members)
The News | May 11 2007
Posted on 05/13/2007 8:47:39 AM EDT by Posting
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1832802/posts
CNN (Arabic): US Sends 6 Cargo Planes; Ammo for Lebanese Army/Fatah Islam Conflict
CNN Arabic
Posted on 05/24/2007 4:16:42 PM EDT by harwood
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1839249/posts
They want to meet God.Bet the meeting won't go well.
Somehow I think they’ve got an overly-ambitious view of the fighting ability of their own blood. Sounds like a Type A(-hole) thing to say.
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