The leader of Fatah al-Islam said in the video, “We wish to die. We wish to die for the sake of God.”
Al-Abssi (al-Absi), sitting, said he was willing
to set an example to his followers (Aljazeera)
The leader of Fatah al-Islam, the al-Qaeda linked terror group battling the Lebanese government in Tripoli released a tape that aired on Aljazeera today:
Earlier on Saturday, Al Jazeera aired a tape featuring a speech by Fatah al-Islam’s leader.
Shaker al-Abssi said: “We wish to die. We wish to die for the sake of God. If the leader is sitting at the forefront, he will set an example for his followers.”
He said Fatah al-Islam would fight “the Jews, the Americans and their loyalists”, an apparent reference to Lebanon’s government.
On Friday, Hassan Nasrallah, secretary-general of Hezbollah, said in a televised speech that the country risked getting dragged into America’s war against al-Qaeda.
He said: “The problem in the north can be solved politically and through the judiciary.”
Nasrallah said accepting US help would draw more fighters into the country and potentially destabilise it.
Fuad Siniora, Lebanon’s prime minister, has defended the import of military supplies from the US, saying the supplies had been offered by several countries months ago.
In an earlier video released on Friday, Fatah al-Islam warned Christians in Lebanon, via SITE:
That if the strikes do not cease, then “we will tear out your hearts with traps and surround your places with explosive canisters, and target all your businesses, beginning with tourism and ending with other rotten industries… We warn you for the last time, and after it there will only be rivers of blood.”
The Fatah al-Islam members fighting the Lebanonese Army in Tripoli this week included 50 terrorists with previous experience fighting in Iraq.
The New York Times connects the blame to America:
Last week, the Lebanese army was in a furious battle against a militant group, Fatah al-Islam, whose ranks included as many as 50 veterans of the war in Iraq, according to Rifi. More than 30 Lebanese soldiers were killed fighting the group at a refugee camp near Tripoli.
The group’s leader, Shakir al-Abssi, was an associate of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of Al-Qaida in Iraq who was killed last summer. In an interview, Abssi confirmed reports that the Syrian government forces had killed his son-in-law as he tried crossing into Iraq to collaborate with insurgents.
Militant leaders warn that the situation in Lebanon is indicative of the spread of fighters. “You have 50 fighters from Iraq in Lebanon now, but with good caution I can say there are a hundred times that many, 5,000 or higher, who are just waiting for the right moment to act,” Mohammad al-Massari, a Saudi dissident in Britain who runs the jihadist Internet forum, Tajdeed.net, said in an interview Friday.
Previously:
Al Qaeda Organizing Attacks on Israel & UNIFIL Forces in Lebanon
Lebanese Troops Battle Syrian Sponsored Al Qaeda Group- 48 Dead!
Death Toll at 65 in Lebanon- Wanted Terrorist Among Dead
Fighting Rages in Lebanon- Fatah al-Islam Bombs Beirut Markets
Palestinians Threaten Violence & Mass Uprisings Across Lebanon
Fatah al-Islam Family Members Shot Up in Lebanon Fighting
4 Saudi Fatah al-Islam Terrorists Killed in Lebanon
