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Syria: Lebanese militants behind deadly blasts, claims govt
(AKI) - The Syrian government has claimed that a militant belonging to Fatah al-Islam, an Al-Qaeda inspired group was behind the September bombings that killed 17 people and injured 65 others in the capital, Damascus. Syrian state television on Thursday showed what it claimed to be 12 members of Fatah al-Islam confessing they had planned the attack.

The militants interviewed also claimed that one of Fatah al-Islam's financial sources is the Future Movement or Tayyar al-Mustaqbal, a Lebanese political movement led by Saad Hariri, son of slain Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.
Most of the people shown on TV were Syrian nationals, Palestinian refugees and a Yemeni national.

One of the militants, Abdel Baqi Hussein, a Syrian national claimed that the suicide bomber was a Saudi Arabian citizen known as Abu Aisha Abu Bandar Jazrawi and that the explosives used in the attack were smuggled from neighbouring Lebanon. "The objective was to rattle the Syrian regime," said Baqi Hussein.
I'm guessing the al-Qaeda boys are even less enthralled with Alawites as they are with Shi'a ...
The militants interviewed also claimed that one of Fatah al-Islam's financial sources is the Future Movement or Tayyar al-Mustaqbal, a Lebanese political movement led by Saad Hariri, son of slain Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.
Oh what a convenient accusation, just as Syrian troops reach the border ...
Another militant, Mahmoud Hussein, said there were plans to carry out attacks in Syria against security buildings, British and Italian diplomats and vehicles carrying security personnel, said Syria's state news agency Sana on Friday.

One of the terrorists claimed that another source of financing of Fatah al-Islam came from Gulf citizens who were members of the militant group.

Baqi Hussein also said that the car used in the bombing was a stolen Iraqi-registered taxi that operates the Damascus-Baghdad route. The 220 kilogrammes of explosives were reportedly packed in a large sports utility vehicle and detonated by the suicide bomber.

The explosion took place on 27 September at the junction between Damascus international airport and a popular Shia shrine frequented by Iranians, Iraqis and Lebanese, called Sayyida Zeinab in the area of Kazzaz. It was the deadliest bomb attack in Syria by Islamist militants in two decades and the third major attack this year.

Fatah al-Islam emerged in November 2006 when it split from Fatah al-Intifada (Fatah Uprising), a Syrian-backed Palestinian group based in Lebanon.

During a bloody standoff with authorities at the Palestinian refugee camp, Nahr al-Bared, in northern Lebanon last year, about 400 people, mainly militants and soldiers, died in the violence and some 40,000 people were displaced.
Posted by: Fred 2008-11-08
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=254643