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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Lebanon links Islamists to the UN attack |
| 2007-06-26 |
| Lebanon on Monday linked a bomb attack that killed six UN peacekeepers in the south of the country to a deadly standoff between Al-Qaeda-inspired militants and the army in the north. Information Minister Ghazi Aridi pointed the finger at the Islamists, based on confessions extracted from Fatah al-Islam gunmen captured during fierce fighting at a Palestinian refugee camp which is now in its sixth week. Security has been tightened in south Lebanon following the attack, which has further rattled the fragile security situation in the deeply divided country. "There is a link between the attack which targeted the Spanish contingent of UNIFIL and the combat between the Lebanese army and the terrorists of Fatah al-Islam in Nahr al-Bared," he told reporters after a cabinet meeting. "Lebanon is the victim of a terrorist wave striking from the north to the south in which the latest target was the Spanish contingent. This attack was preceded by confessions from arrested terrorists about preparations against UNIFIL." It was the first fatal attack on peacekeepers since the UN Interim Force in Lebanon's mandate was expanded last year in the wake of a devastating 34-day war between Israeli troops and the Hezbollah Shiite militia. Lebanese legal sources, quoting confessions from detained fighters, said earlier this month that Fatah al-Islam -- which emerged in the Nahr al-Bared camp late last year -- was planning to attack UN peacekeepers. Abu Salim Taha, a spokesman for the extremist group, had accused UNIFIL forces of siding with the army and threatened to attack the Blue Helmets. Security was heightened in the south on Monday where Spanish Defence Minister Jose Antonio Alonso was visiting his country's troops after the blast, which killed three Spaniards and three Colombian nationals. No one has claimed the attack, which a Lebanese security source said was carried out by car bomb detonated by remote control. It struck as the peacekeepers' armoured vehicle passed by in the Marjayoun-Khiam valley, an area about 10 kilometres (six miles) from the Israeli border. A Spanish colonel told reporters it was a "deliberate attack". "This attack was very well prepared in advance," the officer said at the scene. "The bodies of two of the victims were blown several metres (yards) by the force of the blast." UNIFIL commander Major-General Claudio Graziano of Italy said the bombing was aimed at destabilising the region. "It's not an attack against Lebanon and UNIFIL only but against the stability of the region. This attack has made UNIFIL more committed to fulfil its mission in southern Lebanon," he said in a statement. Hezbollah too was quick to condemn the bombing in an area considered its stronghold. "This act of aggression is aimed at increasing insecurity in Lebanon, especially in the south of the country," it said. UNIFIL first deployed in Lebanon in 1978 after an Israeli invasion but was expanded from some 2,000 members after the July-August war between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas who dominated the south of the country. It now has 13,225 soldiers from 30 nations, including nearly 1,100 from Spain. The attack came on top of a series of car bombings targeting anti-Syrian politicians in and around Beirut and as the army pursued its bloodiest internal fighting since the 1975-1990 civil war with Fatah al-Islam. At least 157 people, including 80 soldiers and 55 Islamists, have died in the standoff. Lebanon's pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud said the attack on UNIFIL was part of a "campaign of destabilization". The Lebanese parliament majority accuse Syria of creating, training and funding Fatah al-Islam. They also claim it is an offshoot of Fatah al- Intifadah , an operation of the Syrian Intelligence , created to destabilize the Palestinian refugee camps and undermine Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement. Syria denied any connections with the militant group, but refused to hand over its leader shaker el Absi to the Jordanians when they asked for his extradition. Absi, the Fatah al Islam leader was sentenced to death by Jordan for the murder of a US diplomat EU Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner condemned it as a "heinous attack" said those responsible should be swiftly brought to justice. In the north, 11 people died in clashes in the port city of Tripoli overnight Saturday, including six Sunni Islamists from Fatah al-Islam and a policeman's 4-year-old daughter. It was the first clash in the mainly Sunni Muslim city since the fighting between Fatah al-Islam and the army in Tripoli and Nahr al-Bared began on May 20. Three Australian men were also arrested in Tripoli at the weekend and are allegedly Islamist extremists involved in the clashes, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said. One of the Islamists that was killed in Tripoli is a Lebanese Australian. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 My, my, my, what will we have here. UNies being killed in the Middle East and no mention of Israel Defence Force? Tsk, tsk, tsk. This will not do. It is contrary to our scapegoating policy. |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2007-06-26 13:17 |
| #1 Are they absolutely sure---seems like a typical Methodist job to me? |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2007-06-26 06:09 |