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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Saudi terrorists killed in North Lebanon |
| 2007-07-10 |
| Lebanese authorities have identified the bodies of 10 Saudis among Fatah al-Islam militants killed in fighting with the army in northern Lebanon, a senior security official said on Monday. "We have identified the bodies of 10 Saudis among the 27 bodies taken by police" since clashes first erupted between the Islamists and Lebanese armed forces on May 20, he said on condition of anonymity. The official said 17 bodies of Fatah al-Islam combatants were found in the main northern port city of Tripoli and 10 others nearby. "Police have not taken away the body of any combatant from inside Nahr al-Bared," he said, referring to the impoverished camp near Tripoli where clashes are continuing. He said the body of Fatah al-Islam spokesman Abu Salim Taha, who has been reportedly killed in the clashes, was not among the 27 bodies recovered by police. "I don't think that Abu Salim is Saudi. He is probably a Palestinian national," he said. The Saudi newspaper Al-Watan said on Sunday that six Saudi militants had been killed in the clashes, including Abu Salim Taha whose real name is Al-Hamadi Abdullah al-Dussari, 23. "We are running DNA tests in order to identify the combattants, most of whom were carrying false passports or false identity cards," the Lebanese security official said. Saudi Arabia in Denial On July 2, Sultan Abul Aynayn, the Lebanon chief of the mainstream Fatah faction, said that 42 Saudis figured among the Fatah al-Islam militiamen fighting the army. He said 20 had been killed, one has surrendered, and another 21 were still holed up inside Nahr al-Bared, three of them wounded. But Riyadh's consul in Beruit, Abdel-Hadi al Shafei, said few of the dead fighters had been identified as Saudi and there was no evidence that many more were fighting at the camp. "Lebanese parties are exploiting the Saudi presence among Fatah al-Islam in the Nahr al-Bared camp," Shafei told London- based daily al-Hayat, which is owned by a senior Saudi prince. "There is a desire to embarrass Saudi Arabia by announcing 'large numbers' of Saudis among the dead, although bodies are charred and disfigured and no documents have affirmed they are Saudi." Shafei said only six to eight bodies in a Tripoli morgue were those of Saudi nationals and one body had been delivered to its Saudi family. He said it was not known if any Saudis were among Fatah al-Islam fighters who had been buried in Lebanon. The Al-Qaeda-inspired group is also made up of Lebanese, Palestinian, Iraqi and Syrian fighters, according to the army, which has been battling Fatah al-Islam in the bloodiest internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war. According to a count compiled from official figures, the conflict has claimed at least 173 lives, including 85 soldiers. Many bodies are believed to have abandoned amid the ruins of Nahr al-Bared. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #5 "Prince Nayef ... retires to a Bedouin tent for a few months a year, lives a relatively austere life and has personally bankrolled much of the Wahabist expansion" Anybody got GPS coordinates on that tent....? |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2007-07-10 17:47 |
| #4 Surprise meter? |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2007-07-10 17:44 |
| #3 I think it's more convoluted than that. Prince Nayef, the uncle of the current king, has been interior minister since 1975. He's the one who retires to a Bedouin tent for a few months a year, lives a relatively austere life and has personally bankrolled much of the Wahabist expansion. He's a behind the scenes political enemy of Prince Sultan, who is more worldly and better at subtle politics but who is also in ill health now. His hold on the mutawa (religious police) and his support from the extremist imams makes him formidable, but he can only go so far publicly in attacking the power bases of the other princes. His approach to Iran recently, followed by Shia-Al Q. cooperation in Iraq, is aimed as much at forwarding his political point of view within the Kingdom as it is aimed at exporting their troublemakers IMO. |
| Posted by: lotp 2007-07-10 08:39 |
| #2 So can we apply their plan to Mikey Moore and Sean Penn? And Alec Baldwin, too. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2007-07-10 07:41 |
| #1 KSA seems to have a working plan - export their Islamist militants to get killed someplace other than KSA. That way the royals get rid of potential enemies without 'martyrdom' rallying new recruits against the royals. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2007-07-10 07:21 |