|
Fatah Islam leader was wounded in north Lebanon
Reports from the Battle at the Nahr el Bared refugee camp between the Lebanese army and the militants confirm that Fatah al-Islam leader Shaker Youssef al-Absi was wounded this evening. The report did not indicate how seriously he was wounded . 2 days ago his body and one senior leader of Fatah al Islam, Abu Riad were killed.On her deathbed, the mother of Absi beseeched God to grant her son and his al-Qaida-inspired militants "victory" in his battle against the Lebanese army, his brother said Wednesday. Fatima al-Zaatrah died 10 days ago in her home in Amman's Wehdat Palestinian refugee camp. She was 87. But in her last days, al-Zaatrah was glued to her television set, watching the conflict evolve between the Lebanese army and her son, holed up with his Fatah Islam militants in the Palestinian refugee camp Nahr el-Bared in northern Lebanon. "Her last words were mostly about Shaker," said al-Absi's brother, Abdul-Razzaq, an Amman orthopedic surgeon. "She said that she missed him a lot and had wished to see him before she dies." "She begged God to protect Shaker and grant him long life and victory in his cause," Abdul-Razzaq told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. The fighting, which began May 20, has killed more than 100 people in the worst internal violence in Lebanon since the end of the 1975-90 civil war. In an offensive launched Friday, the Lebanese army has been pounding al-Absi's hideouts with artillery and rolled additional armor in a bid to push deeper into the camp. Lebanese authorities have demanded Fatah Islam surrender, but the militants have vowed to fight till the death. Al-Absi is high on Jordan's most-wanted terror list. A military court sentenced him to death in absentia in July 2004, along with al-Qaida in Iraq leader, Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, for their roles in the 2002 slaying of a U.S. diplomat in Amman. Al-Zarqawi died in a U.S. airstrike a year ago. Jordanian prosecutors say al-Absi, who is also known as Abu Youssef, sent money raised by al-Zarqawi through intermediaries to the Jordanian cell that killed the American diplomat, Laurence Foley. Al-Absi also arranged to train militants in Syria on weapons and explosives, according to Jordanian military court documents. Al-Absi was also implicated in other planned terror plots in Jordan. Six months ago, Jordanian police engaged in a gun battle with two militants in the northern city of Irbid, killing one and arresting another. The arrested militant later confessed that al-Absi had sent the pair to carry out terror attacks in Jordan. Unlike traditional Palestinian militants like Hamas and Islamic Jihad, al-Absi has for years been interwoven with the al-Qaida-linked militant underground, reportedly visiting Iraq and Afghanistan and associating with al-Zarqawi, one of al-Qaida's most brutal leaders. Al-Absi is wanted Posted by: Fred 2007-06-07 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=190217 |