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Dinnieh suspect admits giving military training to youth
One of the defendants under trial on charges of staging the Dinnieh armed rebellion admitted on Friday that he had previously trained some young men in military combat to prepare them for a confrontation with Israel. Some 50 people were killed in the crossfire between an Islamic militant group and the army that took place on New Year’s Eve in 2000. Friday’s court proceedings were confined to questioning the defendant Hilal Jaafar, who was in a camp in the Dinnieh mountain region when the clashes took place. Jaafar told the court that he used to give lessons in religious studies and indicated that it was he who had negotiated with former MP Khaled Daher in the camp, but denied reports of having held him hostage at the time. He admitted, however, that he prevented him from leaving the camp but added that he took this measure for the MP’s own safety.
"Y'can't leave, Khaled. It's for your own safety."
"My own safety?"
"Yeah. If you try to leave, I'll kill you."
The defendant categorically denied allegations of having opened fire on army troops or used arms, but he said that he had traveled across the valleys to reach Tripoli and get to Beirut. He also denied the charges that Bassam Kanj, known as Abu Aysha, headed any military organization. Jaafar also denied charges that Abu Aysha used to train young Muslim men in North Lebanon in preparation for a jihad against Israel. However, Jaafar admitted that he himself used to train some young men in using light weapons to be ready to confront Israel in future, considering such an action to be his “jihad duty.” He explained that his relation to Abu Aysha was purely a commercial one and that he did not receive a monthly salary from him in return for training the young people in military combat.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-10-19
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=20102