Monday, October 8, 2007

Lessons for Lebanon from Nahr el-Bared

Bruce Riedel at Brookings, here
"...To be sure, Fatah al Islam was no ordinary enemy. This al-Qaeda inspired salafist jihadist network – which reportedly still has several sleeper cells across the country – had enough men and materiel to wage a war like any other regular army battalion.
"...We later learned from testimonies of militants who were captured by the army that Fatah al Islam was planning a string of catastrophic terrorist attacks inside Lebanon, including attacks on UN headquarters in Beirut, large-scale bombings, and assassinations of leading Lebanese political figures. The plot, called 'operation 577', was to lay the foundation for an Islamic emirate in Tripoli..."

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