Free Republic

Hizbullah has established rogue Fatah Tanzim cells in the West Bank to carry out suicide bombings and other attacks to derail any chances of a peace breakthrough between the Palestinians and Israel, according to a report published by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Called the Shiva Brigades, the cells are funded by Iranian Revolutionary Guards based in Lebanon and have “significantly expanded Hizbullah’s targeting capabilities as well as its political goals,” the report said. “As disturbing as the recent flare-up on Israel’s northern border is, it pales in comparison to the far greater threat that Hizbullah poses in...

Fatah on Wednesday relieved its senior commander at the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp, Colonel Mounir Maqdah, from his post and asked him to hand over the main checkpoint at the camp’s lower entrance. Palestinian sources said the decision was made by Brigadier Sultan Abul-Ainayn, the secretary-general of Fatah, with the approval of the Palestinian Authority’s Lebanon Committee. Abul-Ainayn was sentenced in absentia to death by Lebanese authorities for forming an armed group. The decision is believed to habe been taken because of Maqdah’s lack of participation in the recent clash between fundamentalist groups, Esbat al-Nour and Esbat al-Ansar, and Fatah....