| Submit your comments on this article |
| Terror Networks |
| Lebanon to be al-Qaeda's new home? |
| 2002-05-09 |
| Al Qaida is believed to have designated Lebanon as its Middle East base of operations, which could turn Israel into a direct target of Osama Bin Laden. A report said an Al Qaida base in Lebanon would allow the Islamic movement to combine forces with numerous Palestinian and other groups in the insurgency war against Israel. It would also put the bulk of the terror groups within a small geographical area. It'll be a bit hard on Lebanon, but I care a lot less about Lebanon today than I did on September 10th. "This infrastructure would be invaluable for Al Qaida, allowing its operatives to infiltrate, recruit new operatives, and build new sleeper cells that would combine forces with the Islamic militant organizations already operating in the Palestinian arena," the report by the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism said. It would produce a counterweight to Yasser's authority, if any, and would probably march more in tune with Hamas and Islamic Jihad. This isn't the first time Hezbollah's cozy relationship with al-Qaeda has come up. The report, entitled "The Al Qaida-Hizballah Connection," and authored by Yoni Fighel and Yael Shahar, said an Al Qaida foothold in Lebanon would enable the movement to infiltrate Israel. The report said the routes would be either directly from Lebanon or through Jordan. I'm not sure Official Jordan would be as accomodating to them as the Paks and Afghans have been. Lebanon, with its figurehead government, seems the more likely candidate. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |