 DAMASCUS - Syria rejected on Monday accusations from Lebanese officials that it had links to Fatah al-Islam terrorists militants fighting troops in northern Lebanon, saying it had tried to arrest the group’s leaders. “Our forces have been after them, even through Interpol,” Foreign Minister Walid Moualem said in a lecture at Damascus University. “We reject this organisation. It does not serve the Palestinian cause and it is not after liberating Palestine.”
| That's actually true -- it doesn't serve the Paleo cause, it serves the Syrian cause. The Syrians don't give a hoot about the Paleos and never have. |
Lebanese government ministers say Fatah al-Islam is a tool used by Syria to stir instability in an effort to derail UN moves to set up an international court to try suspects in the 2005 killing of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. “The (Syrian) Interior ministry had already issued statements about the leaders of Fatah al-Islam after a bombing in Lebanon several weeks ago,” Moualem said, referring to Syria’s denials in March that it had any links to the group, which was accused of bombing two buses near Beirut.
| Fatah is useful for this, it's useful to keep uppity Lebanese journalists in line, ditto for uppity gummint officials. All sorts of uses. |
Fatah al-Islam emerged in November when it split from Fatah al-Intifada (Fatah Uprising), a Syrian-backed Palestinian group. |