Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
FACED WITH RECENT setbacks in Iraq and Syria, al Qaeda is slowly but firmly gaining influence in Lebanon, helped by the country’s increasing sectarian violence and the turmoil caused by Syria’s civil war, sources close to the group say.
Lebanon, a small Mediterranean state with a fragile sectarian power sharing system, has seen the worst of the Syria’s war spillover with car bombs in Beirut and Tripoli, gunfights in city streets and rocket fire in the Bekaa Valley.
The violence is exacerbated by Lebanon’s own sectarian divisions and entrenching them. Shi’ite Hezbollah supports President Bashar Assad while his rebel opponents are backed by Sunni Muslims, including Islamists and al Qaeda fighters.
In Syria, the al Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) holds territory in the north and east but has been on the defensive in recent weeks after coming under attack from rival rebel groups that resent its harsh rule.
The sources say it is now seeking to expand in Lebanon, particularly the northern city of Tripoli, plagued by violence and lawlessness since the start of Syria’s uprising nearly three years ago.
The accounts from the sources, including fighters who support and oppose al Qaeda in Syria, appeared to be supported at the weekend when a statement in the name of Abu Sayyaf al-Ansary – described as al Qaeda’s commander in Lebanon – said the group had put down roots in Lebanon.
In an audio statement, Ansary declared allegiance to the head of ISIL. Speaking from Tripoli, he announced Lebanon would be a gateway for al Qaeda to strike at Israel.
Several Syrian rebel sources said the group was in the final stages of establishing itself in Lebanon’s north – a region seen as fertile ground for the group where many people have adopted a stricter interpretation of Sunni Islam in the past few years.
Dozens of people have been killed in Tripoli in the past year in violence between Alawites – the offshoot of Shi’ite Islam to which Assad and his family belong – and Sunnis.
The #notamartyr campaign was started after a teenager died in a car bomb in Beirut.
Roots of Conflict
The hatred goes back to the 1980s when Syrian troops, sent by Bashar’s father Hafez Assad, with the help of local Alawites in Tripoli, crushed Sunnis who were seen close to the Palestinian groups fighting in Lebanon.
After Lebanon’s 15-year civil war ended in 1990, consecutive governments concentrated rebuilding and investment in the capital Beirut, leaving other cities struggling with relative poverty, unemployment and an alienated underclass.
As well as the deprived cities, the mainly Sunni Muslim Palestinian refugee camps – home to most of the 440,000 Palestinians living in Lebanon – are also a potential breeding ground for jihadis. So far they have produced small groups who have gone to fight in Afghanistan, Iraq and other conflicts abroad rather than building up forces in Lebanon itself.
Against that backdrop, a local commander in Syria who is close to al Qaeda commanders there said Ansary had been given the conditional blessing of ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to announce al Qaeda’s presence in Lebanon.
There will be statement in the next few days and the world will know then what will happen in Lebanon, and with God’s will it will warm the heart of the faithful,” he said.
While the group is expected to focus on Tripoli as a base, local commanders may be present in the northern province of Akkar, in the Bekaa Valley and the southern city of Sidon, where supporters of Sunni Islamist Sheikh Ahmed al-Assir clashed with the army last year.
Calling the Shots
With a new label – the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – the global terror network al-Qaida is positioning itself as a vanguard defending a persecuted Sunni community against Shiite-dominated governments across Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. (Uncredited/AP/Press Association Images)
Residents say al Qaeda is already calling the shots in some Tripoli neighbourhoods and areas of the northern province of Akkar and the Bekaa Valley. Black and white flags associated with its uncompromising Islamist agenda openly fly from the streets and balconies of some Tripoli districts.
Baghdadi, an Iraqi who leads thousands of fighters from across the world but mainly from Iraq, Egyptand Libya, initially sent his men to fight alongside Syrian rebels, most of them Islamists.
But many Syrian fighters grew to resent his dominance, especially after his fighters killed and tortured hundreds of Syrians including other Islamist fighters.
“His dream is to create a state, he cannot see anything else but that and will crush anybody who stands in his way,” said a Syrian commander who fights against al Qaeda.
He even spilt our blood because we refused to consider him our Emir (leader). So for him we are infidels now standing in the way of the state just like the Shi’ites, Jews and others.
Baghdadi even challenged the overall al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri a few months ago when Zawahri called on him to leave the Syrian battlefield to another al Qaeda affiliate, the Nusra Front. The two groups have clashed in recent weeks as Islamist fighters launched coordinated attacks on ISIL this month.
Looking for a new home
In this 5 January 2014 file picture, a gunman holds a rocket-propelled grenade during clashes with Iraqi security forces in Fallujah, Iraq. (Image: STR/AP/Press Association Images)
After that setback in Syria – and an army offensive against its stronghold in western Iraq - Lebanon could offer both a new recruiting ground and a base for attacks.
“They are looking to fulfil their dream. They are ‘Iraq and the Levant’, which means Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine. They will not stop now,” said a commander whose men detained fighters from ISIL during battles in northern Syria.
The sources were divided over how powerful the group is at this stage in Lebanon. Some said it had already established its base and would launch more organised attacks in the country, while others said it was still in final preparatory stages.
“Our understanding is that they are around 80 per cent established but not fully established. They are still not well organised or the cells connected to each other,” said another Syrian commander via Skype. “They are in the process of re-grouping, that is what we know.”
Sources in Tripoli said that a debate took place for weeks among the jihadis on whether to go public. They were told by higher command to wait for approval from Baghdadi.
Saturday’s audio statement, posted on YouTube in Abu Sayyaf al-Ansary’s name, suggests that approval has been granted.
Ansary said Sunnis in Lebanon were mistreated by the powerful Shi’ite Hezbollah. He called on Sunnis to unite and saluted recent bombings in Shi’ite areas claimed by al Qaeda-linked Abdallah Azzam Brigades but said they were not enough.
“After the flag of Islam was raised from Iraq to the Levant … we have decided to announce our allegiance to them,” he said. “We swear allegiance to Emir Abu Bakr al-Husseini al-Baghdadi, from Tripoli, so that we will be a door for him, God willing, from Lebanon to the holy site (Jerusalem).”
“So we offered the idea of regenerating their cells in Lebanon so that we continue the path of jihad which has scared America in its den.”
A spokesman named Abu Omar would issue a statement with more details soon, he said.
Lebanon arrested a leader of the al Qaeda-linked Abdullah Azzam brigades this month, who died in custody days later.
“The north (of Lebanon) is a fertile ground for this for many reasons. People are extremists – but because of ignorance,” said a third Syrian commander who lives in Turkey. He predicted an escalation in violence in Lebanon but said all-out conflict remained unlikely for now.
“More car bombs and explosions will happen here and there. As for an all out war in Lebanon, I think it’s not possible in the near term,” he said.
Copyright 2014 Thomson Reuters/ Click for Restrictions.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
It’ll be very sad if these Islamic nutters gain control of any part of the region because they really don’t give one toss for the ordinary people & are more than willing to use them as sacrificial lambs in hate-filled “war” against Christians, Jews & even other Muslims who aren’t as extreme as them.
The Middle-East is facing a scary next few years. Israel will survive but hopefully won’t be forced to fight against these extremists as undoubtedly innocent civilians on both sides will sadly be killed.
Oh they’ll regret the day they take on the Israelis. They’ll whip those cowardly idiots.
Al Qeada never take on the Israelis, look at their list of attacks over the years, there are very very few against Israeli interests for all their talk. Hezbollah and the Palestinians, both of which share borders with Israel, have been responsible for nearly every attack.
You seriously have to wonder how come they never attack Israeli interests if one of their stated goals is it’s destruction. I don’t want to be fuelling conspiracy theories but it is kind of strange.
@ Thomas Francis Meagher :Al Qaeda, initially created and funded by the US in Afghanistan to fight the Soviets under the leadership of Osama Bin Laden, then called Mujahedin , later Taliban. They were always regarded as the greatest treat to the Governments of Iraq and Libya and were never present in these countries prior to their US implementation. Today still on the payroll of the CIA in Syria, Iraq, Libya etc they have managed with US, Saudi and Qatari funding and support to become a real treat to our much cherished democracy. Their main source of income at the moment is, in collaboration with the CIA, the opium trade in Afghanistan which has spiraled in volume to record levels since the invasion. See : ” Professor Michel Chossudovsky Canada , has highlighted in a series of essays, the explosion of opium production after the invasion was about the CIA’s drive to restore the lucrative Golden Crescent opium trade that was in place during the time when the Agency were funding the Mujahadin rebels to fight the Soviets, and flood the streets of America and Britain with cheap heroin, “ Today this USA invention serves a dual purpose. Firstly to portray them as a threat to our freedom, thus curbing long fought for civil liberties, and so creating a docile, fearful and increasingly naive American society who are paying dearly for all of this insanity with their hard earned tax money. Secondly as in Afghanistan they are readily available to recruit as mercenaries world wide. A Frankenstein created in the USA . Our only hope remains that young intelligent people in the US and will wake up some day.
@ Padraic – Alex Jones called, he wants his material back.
Padraic. The Mujhadeen and Al Queda were two completely separate entities. Do a little history research. During the Russian Afghan war Al Queda were only minor bit players. And the Taliban were created by the Pakistani Intelligence Service who by the way still retain links with them. Because the US did not want to be seen as directly involved they rather foolishly worked through the Pakistanis who had their own agenda.
And Bin Laden used his family money to finance Al Queda.
Mick mick mick
It’s already been proved the us funded alCIAda in afghan/ Russia war
Brezinski has admitted to this there are pictures of him and a young bin laden they were the USA proxy army
The amount of disinfo spin BS that comes out of you on certain subjects is laughable
If anyone doubts this google it do a little research yourselves as ” Alex Jones” would say
Don’t take my word for it do your own research
@ Liam . First time in my life I hear of this man . I will look it up. I carry out my own individual researches I just hope you are not an American tax payer funding this utter nonsense because any profits will certainly not be coming your way. It goes to the so called 1 % as the American hard working middle class are daily beingn deprived of everything they and their fathers have worked so hard for. Wake up.
@ Mick : you remain so beautifully naive . Don’t wake up. You may be shocked.
Padraic I suggest you lay off the opium. It addles the brain
@ Padraic – After reading your first post the name Alex Jones immediately sprang to mind. Many people who espouse the same views as you, consider him to be a beacon of integrity in terms of this conspiracy theory nonsense.
Here is a quick video of him in prime form: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DoaoRc5TF4
As for you carrying out your own “individual researches”, I do hope you can prove all of these claims that you are making and are not talking out of your ass (I personally would not think for a second that you are). So many people on the internet who make claims like this always fall short at such requests.
“Today still on the payroll of the CIA in Syria, Iraq, Libya etc they have managed with US, Saudi and Qatari” America funding Al-Qaeda, even though Al-Qaeda want to spread their ideology to all parts of the world, even America. This really is amazing. And of course, you also have evidence for this as well?
“Wake up” The words used by many a conspiracy theorist. Also you tell me to wake up yet you tell Mick not to. Do you want people to know whats going on or not? Make up your mind man.
@ Liam “ First question .Why should anybody that dares to question the prevalent and all prevailing account of events entailing a major historical significance be automatically be labeled as a (Conspiracy theorist ) Socrates questioned the development of democracy in Athens, Gallileo questioned the acquired knowledge of Rome in his time . In later times brave people like of the Claus Von Staufenberg questioned the lunatic ideals and plans of his mentor Adolf. They were all killed though for their far reaching assessment of current and future events
Second Question. People like Mick will in this life never wake up.
@ pat mustard you are spot on pat,it is very unusual !!!
@ Padraic – You’re comparing yourself to people like Socrates and Galileo? I consider myself a confident person, even sometimes I can get cocky, but wow that really is arrogance. Were Socrates and Galileo labelled as conspiracy theorists? No. They merely went against the status quo.
You on the other hand are continuously making extraordinary claims (and you still have not shown any proof to back such claims up). You say that the CIA is funding Al-Qaeda even though Al-Qaeda want to impose sharia law on all people of the world.
“Second Question. People like Mick will in this life never wake up.” That is not a question, it is a declarative statement.
Padraic, if only the soviets had not invaded Afghanistan in the first place.
You should be a little bit critical of the place you live in now.
The American youth are not as stupid as you think they are.
Foxy, the US supplied the mujahideen with light weapons and shoulder held rocket launchers to take on the soviets.
The soviets inflicted brutal casualties on the afghans.
How old were you when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan?
You need to done some thinking beyond the US links.
The US does not operate in a vacuum!
Declan
1st green thumb I have ever giving you
If you are agreeing that the USA gave arms to bin laden that just about clears it up
Now how deep down the rabbit hole are you willing to go
@ Liam : pointing to the fact that it is sometimes profitable for our intellectual development to go “against the grain” and not to believe everything we read in the (Papers) At the moment we are been fed with mass propaganda that is an insult to our normal intelligence. Knowledge and wisdom are worked for, and not some god given thing, or government thing. My statement about the involvement of the CIA concerning trade with drugs is based on Un investigations and independent investigations from renowned publicists such as” Michel Chossudoysky: from a Canadian University .HSBC and some smaller English banks are at the moment being investigated not only for their involvement int he drug trade but also for their involvement in transfering billions of Dollars to the taliban through Saudi Arabia .We must wait for the result, PS I have two small children and
o this is why I am very, very angry with the CIA, If not for my kids , then maybe for their friends
Foxes. I believe I said that US funded the Mujhadeen through the Pakistanis. And the Mujhadeen of the Afghan-Russian war were a conglomerate of different forces under one umbrella name. Remember Commander Massoud? The one the one Taliban murdered. He was one of the main commanders during the War. He tried to warn the US about what the Pakistanis were at. The Killing was carried out by 2 Tunisians pretending to be a Belgian news crew. The Pakistani Intelligence Service were suspected in aiding the Taliban and their then Al Queda allies in getting the suicide bombers so close to him. As revenge for trying to tell the US.
NY Times: Afghan Opium Kingpin On CIA Payroll
A bombshell article in today’s edition of the New York Times lifts the lid on how the brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, a suspected kingpin of the country’s booming opium trade, has been on the CIA payroll for the past eight years. However, the article serves as little more than a whitewash because it fails to address the fact that one of the primary reasons behind the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan was the agenda to reinstate the Golden Crescent drug trade.
“The agency pays (Ahmed Wali) Karzai for a variety of services, including helping to recruit an Afghan paramilitary force that operates at the C.I.A.’s direction in and around the southern city of Kandahar, Mr. Karzai’s home,” reports the Times.
An October 2008 report from the Times reveals how, after security forces discovered a huge tractor-trailer full of heroin outside Kandahar in 2004, “Before long, the commander, Habibullah Jan, received a telephone call from Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of President Hamid Karzai, asking him to release the vehicle and the drugs.”
In 2006, following the discovery of another cache of heroin, “United States investigators told other American officials that they had discovered links between the drug shipment and a bodyguard believed to be an intermediary for Ahmed Wali Karzai.”
The Times article out today also discusses how the CIA uses Karzai as a go-between between the Americans and the Taliban. He is also directly implicated in the manufacturing of phony ballots and polling stations that were attributed to the President’s disputed election victory.
“If it looks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck,” the American officer said of Mr. Karzai. “Our assumption is that he’s benefiting from the drug trade.”
Officials quoted by The Times described Karzai as a Mafia-like figure who expanded his influence over the drug trade with the aid of U.S. efforts to eliminate his competitors.
[efoods]
The Afghan opium trade has exploded since the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, following a lull after the Taliban had imposed a crackdown. According to the U.N., the drug trade is now worth $65 billion. Afghanistan produces 92 per cent of the world’s opium, with the equivalent of 3,500 tonnes leaving the country each year. Other figures put the number far higher, at around 6,100 tonnes a year.
The New York Times exposé pins the blame on Karzai, but fails to explain that one of the primary reasons behind the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan was the United States’ agenda to restore, not eradicate, the drug trade.
Before the invasion, the Taliban collaborated closely with the U.N. to reduce opium production down to just 185 tonnes, a figure at least 2000% below current levels. The notion that the “Taliban benefits from the drug trade” and that the U.S. is trying to stop it, as both Bush and Obama claimed, is the complete opposite of what is actually happening.
As Professor Michel Chossudovsky has highlighted in a series of essays, the explosion of opium production after the invasion was about the CIA’s drive to restore the lucrative Golden Crescent opium trade that was in place during the time when the Agency were funding the Mujahideen rebels to fight the Soviets, and flood the streets of America and Britain with cheap heroin, destroying lives while making obscene profits.
Foxy, stop twisting what I said. The mujahideen were supplied with weapons. Bin laden was a nobody back then. Who could have predicted what he would do 20 plus alters.
20 plus years later.
Al Qaeda are funded and armed by the Israelis and Saudis, in Syria and before in Libya, murdering civilians in their tens of thousands, to assist the central bankers / zionist agenda, with the help of the USA, UK & France / NATO.. this story is horse crap..
I’m seriously dizzy after reading that spin
And their will be people that take it as gospel
Foxy,have you read or watched 9/11 farenheit,I think that might make you a little dizzy too.
Ya now that they have told us that they are there I suppose they are free to go in all guns blazing. Pathetic
Martin
That movie is propaganda
All it does is whitewash real issues and expose things that were already known
Michael Moore works for them
Has anybody else noticed that since the US began its ‘war on terror’ that terrorism around the world has grown exponentially.
The numbers of fighters in ‘Al Qaeda’ has shot up drastically and their terror attacks now number in the thousands.
Lebanon will be a 3 way fight. The Christian Militias have the Israelis backing them, Hezbollah have Iran and Al Queda.
The Christians in Lebanon won’t be a push over by any means as Hezbollah has found out. And with Hezbollah they will have to make a choice. Continue to fight in Syria on the Government side or defend their own areas in Lebanon. And you can be sure the Israelis won’t tolerate any fighting close to their borders.
Mick
Like the way you try to link alCIAda with Iran
One has nothing to do with the other and you know this you just come on here not for a debate but for an argument
@Mick, Iran has thrown a lot into the hizbullah mob and now that Kerry is allowing Iran to trade again they will have even more money to spend on terror.
hahahaha mick you have just proven how ill informed and ignorant you are,glad i dont even have to pretend to take your BS serious anymore !!
He never said Iran backed them you just misread it. He said there were three groups 1 Christians supported by Israel, 2. Hezbollah supported by Iran and 3. Al Qaeda. You could probably add a fourth the Lebanese Army. It will be strange having 1, 2 & 4 on the same side but Al Qaeda are a common enemy of all.
richard are you for real ?? he said “hezbollah have iran and al qaeda” it does not get any more simple or plain than that and if you were familiar with his “contributions” you’d know this is par for the course
I haven’t. I linked Hezbollah with Iran. I was commenting on the how a civil war in Lebanon would play out.
A comma after Iran maybe would have made it more clear.
fair enough mick !
This is a total red herring name the last time that Al Qaeda attacked Israel or Israeli personnel?
Israel is just one of the targets in this holy war which Islam hopes will restore their longed for ‘Caliphate’.Al-Qaeda has been training foreign nationals in Syria as potential terrorists to form cells abroad, specifically in the United Kingdom and European Union. When the West wakes up it may well be too late. Israel may well be our saviour.
What are you smoking
I don’t know who put that idea in your head but go back and tell him to stop winding you up
You don’t get past the sports section of newspapers very often do you.
Ipsum
I’m a man utd supporter in afraid to look at the news paper
Ipsum wants the single state solution i.e. give the entire middle east to Israel.
Watch below it’s presented humorously but it’s serious.
In early January 2014, for the second time since August 2012, Hamas’s education and interior ministries held the “Futuwwa” (“Youth”) camps for Gaza schoolboys, in which the boys receive military training and indoctrination. This years’ camps were called “Talai’ Al-Tahrir” (“Liberation Pioneers”) and were attended by 13,000 students, compared to 5,000 in 2012. Who pays for this if Gaza is as poor as claimed?
Obama is calling for the same thing has been since he was elected
Google it
Members of his administration have said they feel everyone between the ages of 16 and thirty odd should take 3 months out for basic training
Prove me wrong and I won’t comment on here again
Obama-jugend?
Hamas Prime Minister Isma’il Haniya called for establishing training camps for girls as well, “so they can follow the path of the martyrs” Bin Laden was only in the ha’penny place compared to this lot.
So
You got a problem with women in the military . They have the right to go to boot camp
You are just plain sexist by that comment
hahah exactly foxy and his next dig at them will probably be that they restrict womens freedom,just cant talk to these people,they see what they want
Hamas Prime Minister Isma’il Haniya said: “We will restore the climate of jihad, martyrdom and sacrifice for the sake of Allah to all sectors of society. He even allows young girls to become suicide bombers, definitely an equal opportunity employer.
Only on the Journal could you read a suggestion that Obama is forming suicide squads of boys and girls.
WOW Holy S**t he’s gonna do what now?
Can you provide a link
You just can’t beat a good conspiracy theory
The Caliphate is creeping towards us little by little. ”
At the end of December 2013, a host for Liberty GB radio (Liberty GB is a British political party) was charged by West Midlands Police (England) with “racially aggravated harassment.” Tim Burton’s supposed crime was a Twitter post in which he described Fiyaz Mughal (who runs an “anti-Islamophobia” website/organisation called Tell MAMA) as “a mendacious grievance-mongering taqiyya-artist”
We seem to be getting a bit of this in Ireland from the self appointed groups who exaggerate the number of ‘hate crimes’
“Because Tim Burton highlighted Fiyaz Mughal’s bogus claims about nonexistent “Islamophobia” and “hate crimes” (against Muslims), Mughal decided to accuse Tim Burton himself of committing a hate crime for revealing such mendacity. Effectively Fiyaz Mughal is attempting to stop people pointing out his bogus hate-crime claims by saying that such criticisms are also, well, hate crimes.”
The future for the people of Lebanon is not looking good as we see folks here trying to cover up the presence of al Qaeda there.
have your say