Fatah Al-Islam “Commander” Threatens to Move Battle to Other Lebanese Areas
Text of report by London-based newspaper Al-Hayat website on 25 May
[Telephone interview with Shihab al-Qaddur, Abu-Hurayrah, Fatah al-Islam's military commander, in his 'secret hideout' in Nahr al- Barid Camp, north Lebanon, by Basim al-Bakkur in Beirut; date not given]
Shihab al-Qaddur, alias “Abu-Hurayrah”, the “Fatah al-Islam” organization’s military commander, has asserted that the organization will retaliate against the Lebanese Army “if the attacks on us continued. This will not be limited to the Palestinian camps or the capital Beirut but all the fronts will be opened.” He added that the recent battles in Tripoli city or the explosions in Beirut’s Al-Ashrafiyah and Verdun areas were just the beginnings.
Speaking to “Al-Hayat” by telephone from his secret hideout in “Nahr al-Barid” camp, north Lebanon, the 36 years old “Abu- Hurayrah” said: “We are ready to bomb in Beirut or any other area in Lebanon.” He stressed that “Fatah al-Islam” has bases and sleeping cells in all the Palestinian camps in several Lebanese areas in addition to supporters “who are ready and mobilized for violent response. They are just waiting for a signal from us.” He also pointed out that the organization does not claim responsibility for the recent bombings in Beirut saying “it is our brothers and supporters who carried them out” and called “Fatah al-Islam’s” threat to open hell’s doors “serious and we will defend with all means as long as we are attacked.” He asserted that the “organization has great and full capability to move the battle to any spot in Lebanon and we can do this very easily and have no problem with it.”
The “Fatah al-Islam’s” second in command (after organization leader Shakir al-Absi) denied that a member had robbed the “Mediterranean Sea” Bank’s branch in northern Al-Kurah area and said this accusation “is a pretext for attacking us, as they accused us in the past [of affiliation] to “Al-Qa’idah” and that we are takfiris or terrorists.” He added: “Our organization is an Islamic project whose aim is to liberate Palestine and Jerusalem. Our bullets will pierce any obstacle that stands in the way of achieving our objective.” He considered “Fatah al-Islam” a Palestinian group in general of between 600 and 700 members who are present in all the Palestinian camps in Lebanon and not just in “Nahr al-Barid” camp “and all of them are at the highest levels of combat readiness.”
“Abu-Hurayrah”, who was the field commander of the frontlines during the recent battles in “Nahr al-Barid” camp, asserted that only 10 “Fatah al-Islam” members were killed during the first three days of the battles with the Lebanese Army, all of them Palestinians from Lebanon, Syria, or Jordan “though we were expecting to lose a greater number of our members.” He denied that the dead included other Arab nationalities as the press recently reported and noted that six of the dead were buried in the camp’s grounds on Tuesday- Wednesday night while the other four were buried the day before yesterday in the afternoon after prayers were conducted in accordance with Islamic shari’ah.
He disclosed to “Al-Hayat” that a large number of “Fatah al- Islam” members have “high-level combat experiences outside Lebanon” and said: “I personally have almost 21 years of combat experience in various areas, the last was in Iraq.” But he denied at the same time the organization’s intention to bring the Iraqi experience to Lebanon “but if we are denied our right to defend our land (Palestine) then everyone who stands in our face in implementation of the American and Jewish plan and the Western one in general has to bear the responsibility”, he added.
“Abu-Hurayrah”, who is a Lebanese from Mishmish village in Akkar district, north Lebanon, disclosed “we have martyrdom seekers ready to carry out operations” and refused to call them “suicide bombers”, adding: “We will not spare any means if the noose is tightened around us” and cited Koranic verse “if then anyone transgresses against you, transgress ye likewise against him.” (Surah al- Baqarah, verse 194).
He stressed that “Fatah al-Islam” has no intention of attacking the “UNIFIL” forces in the south “as long as these forces do not attack us.”
He also denied that “Fatah al-Islam” fighters used swords and knives against the Lebanese Army during the attack on its positions, as recently reported, and said: “We did not slaughter anyone, either from the army or the other security forces.” He pointed out that “Fatah al-Islam” adopts the “guerilla warfare way which no army can defeat and we have examples of this in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.”
“Abu-Hurayrah” did not show any apprehension that the “Nahr al- Barid” camp residents would turn against “Fatah al-Islam” no matter how intense the pressures become but stressed that “many elements from the Palestinian factions that oppose us politically disobeyed their leaders’ orders, stood with us, and were sympathetic with us when the camp was recently bombarded.” He denied that “Fatah al- Islam” leader Shakir al-Absi was injured during the recent battles and asserted that the organization has underground shelters and fortifications inside the camp and said: “We have nothing to lose and are ready for a battle that might last two years or more.”
He announced that the organization does not “oppose”"Hezbollah” in its resistance against Israel in south Lebanon “regardless of the ideological differences between us. We do not have though contacts with it or any hostile stands towards it or the Shi’is in Lebanon.” He noted that Lebanon’s Shi’is oppose the American plan for the region “unlike Iraq’s Shi’is who stood with the occupation (…) and therefore “Fatah al-Islam” has no intention of carrying out operations against the Lebanese Shi’is.”
He also disclosed that he was a prisoner “for five and a half years in Syria, which they are accusing us of being its agents in Lebanon.”
(c) 2007 BBC Monitoring Middle East. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.