Lebanon's senior Shiite cleric on civil war and Al Qaeda in Lebanon

And on whether Shiites have been creating chaos in the region lately. From The (Beirut) Daily Star:

Senior Shiite cleric Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah said Thursday that a civil war is not likely to erupt in Lebanon. "Neither the United States nor other international forces want a civil war to happen in Lebanon because it will complicate things even more in the region," Fadlallah told As-Safir newspaper in an interview published Thursday.

Hmmm, I wonder why he remains conspicuously silent on whether the Lebanese are willing to go to war with themselves...Is this because even someone in his position can't predict what the militias will do? (Note that he has always resisted being called the spiritual leader of Hizbullah though the leadership of Hizbullah certainly looks to him for guidance.) Or is he just offering up the usual excuse - that all problems in the region can be attributed to meddlesome outsiders?

Anyway, as the Star report continued:

Asked whether the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization had any significant presence or influence in Lebanon, Fadlallah replied that they do. "However," he added, "they cannot be as harmful as they are in Afghanistan or Iraq for their area of operations is a lot more restrained."

...Fadllalah also defended Shiites in the Middle East. "They have not played a negative role in the Arab world despite the marginalization and oppression they are subject to ... and in Lebanon they are among the keenest sects to preserve security," Fadlallah said.

And some more words of encouragement from the cleric:

He said Shiites are open to cooperation with other sects to make Lebanon a "sovereign, free and independent, country."

Fadlallah said Hizbullah's arms were never used against the Lebanese, "and they will surrender their weapons as soon as we have a strong state capable of protecting its citizens."

"Shiites do no want Iran or Syria to rule over Lebanon ... they want to be equal with citizens from other sects, and any other description is not acceptable," he added.

Well, let's just hope someone other than me gets this important message.

Fighting between militants and the army spreads in Lebanon

Yesterday, a "sleeper cell" of Fatah al Islam, the Al Qaeda spin-off in Lebanon, clashed with the Lebanese Army, this time in the south, in the Palestinian refugee camp, Ain al Hilwe.

The New York Times reports:

The deadly volley of shelling and sniper fire at a refugee camp in northern Lebanon intensified Sunday, and fighting broke out between militants and the army in another camp in the south, increasing fears that the two-week battle between the Lebanese Army and Islamist militants could spread to other parts of the country.

This in spite of the fact that, as the Times continued:

Palestinian leaders in Lebanon’s 12 refugee camps, but especially in Ain al Hilwe, had been struggling to prevent the fighting in the north with the Fatah al Islam militia, a group inspired by Al Qaeda, from spreading to other camps.

According to the Times sources, the sleeper cell was part of another militant group, Jund al Sham, which is sympathetic Fatah al Islam. But as the Times reported:

A gunman who gave his name as Abu Jaffar, speaking by telephone from inside the camp on Sunday evening, said: “We will not stop the fight. We are the sleeper cells that Fatah al Islam has warned everyone about.”

“We will not stop our fight until the army ceases its fight in the north,” he added.

Some 110 people, including 44 soldiers have been reported killed in the fighting over the past two weeks. But the death toll is believed to be higher, as apparently not all people have been accounted for, and thousands of innocents have been trapped inside the camps. Nobody really knows the extent of the losses because, as the Times continues:

The army has placed heavy restrictions on news coverage of the siege, keeping reporters far from view of the camp.

(Imagine the U.S. getting away with something like this.)

Many Lebanese citizens have reportedly been supportive of the Army's recent actions, as the armed gunmen who thrive inside the camps have long threatened Lebanon's security. The mayor of Sidon, Abdul Rahman Bizri, summed up the feelings of many Lebanese, when he reportedly said: “The Lebanese Army is fighting a very important battle and it has to win it. Because the balance of this country is too delicate, and they are the very core of our national security.”

More "Islamic militants" under attack in the Levant

Now in Lebanon too. From the New York Times:

Fierce clashes erupted between Lebanese Army soldiers and Islamic militants in the vicinity of a Palestinian refugee camp [near Tripoli] on Sunday, leaving 22 Lebanese soldiers and 17 militants dead and dozens injured in one of the most significant challenges to the army since the end of Lebanon’s bloody civil war.

The Times reports that "the confrontation with the Islamist group, Fatah al-Islam, raised fears of a wider battle to rout militants in the rest of Lebanon’s 12 refugee camps, where radical Islam has been gaining in recent years."

But apparently not everyone would fear this "wider battle to rout militants" as the Times went on to report:

Lebanese citizens, who hold the Palestinians responsible for sparking the civil war in 1975, cheered the army on the streets of Tripoli and outside the camp.

Fatah al-Islam, the Times recalls, "subscribes to the fundamentalist precepts of Al Qaeda" and its leader was a partner in crime with the genocidal maniac and axe murderer, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the former leader of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia killed almost a year ago in Iraq. The two carried out the murder of an American diplomat, Lawrence Foley, in Jordan.

As "fighting raged throughout the afternoon at the camp, home to about 40,000 refugees, " the Times goes on to report, and "as army reinforcements rushed to the scene and tanks began shelling targets in the camp" many residents of Tripoli were seen clapping and cheering:

“This should have happened from the start,” said one man, who stood in a crowd of onlookers as the tanks fired into the camp. The crowd shouted, “God is great, and God protect the army,” with each shell fired.

“We wish the government would destroy the whole camp and the rest of the camps,” said another in the crowd, Ahmad al-Marooq. “Nothing good comes out of the Palestinians."

The Lebanese blame the Palestinians for inciting civil war in 1975 after Palestinian militias seeking refuge in the country - after having been booted out of Jordan for trying to foment revolution there - instigated the breakdown of the military and social and political order.

This Lebanese civil war raged for sixteen years, only ending with a heavy-handed presence of Syrian peacekeeping forces. In spite of increasing international pressure, Syria only agreed to withdraw its forces in Lebanon after elements of the Syrian regime were widely suspected of orchestrating the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri in February 2005.