Lebanese authorities arrest 4 Palestinians planning bombings

IHT ^ | August 13, 2007

[PRePublic]

Lebanese authorities arrest 4 Palestinians planning bombings

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/08/13/africa/ME-GEN-Lebanon-Violence.php

Army commander: Militant group battling Lebanese troops in refugee camp al-Qaida affiliated The Associated PressPublished: August 13, 2007

BEIRUT, Lebanon: Lebanon's army commander said Monday that the militant group battling troops in a northern Palestinian refugee camp was affiliated with al-Qaida, the first high-ranking official to make such a statement.

Some Lebanese government officials had alleged the Fatah Islam group holed up in the Nahr el-Bared camp was created by Syria, a claim denied by Gen. Michel Suleiman.

"This organization is not the creation of Syrian intelligence, nor its it supported by pro-government Lebanese groups," Suleiman said on the state-run National News Agency. "It is a branch of the al-Qaida organization that was planning to make Lebanon and Palestinian camps a safe haven from which it would launch its operations in Lebanon and outside."

The previously unheard of group has been fighting Lebanese soldiers in Nahr el-Bared near the northern port city of Tripoli since May 20.

Anti-Syrian Lebanese government officials have accused Damascus of being behind the group in an attempt to destabilize Lebanon following its forced withdrawal from the country in 2005.