False Flag ops, Syria Pwnd al Qaeda

Following the exposure of an affiliation between Fath Al-Islam and Syrian intelligence during the interrogation of Fath Al-Islam members, Syrian and pro-Syrian elements and media have been making efforts to deny this affiliation. Fath Al-Islam leaders with connections to Syria have suddenly disappeared, to be replaced by new leaders, claimed to be connected to Al-Qaeda. In addition, one of the organization's new leaders and a pro-Syrian Lebanese source have stated that Fath Al-Islam is under the command of Al-Qaeda, a claim that was firmly denied by the organization's previous leadership.




Fath Al-Islam detainees had admitted a connection between their organization and Syrian intelligence. The first report, published June 8, 2007 in the Kuwaiti daily Al-Rai, concerned a detainee named Muhammad Suleiman Mar'i. According to Al-Rai, Mar'i had revealed in his interrogation that his elder brother, Ahmad Mar'i, who is a senior leader in Fath Al-Islam, had close ties with the head of Syrian military intelligence, Assef Shawkat. Muhammad Mar'i explained that his brother had served as the chief liaison between Assef Shawkat and Fath Al-Islam leader Shaker Al-Abs. In this capacity, he would pass instructions from Syria to Al-Absi, and occasionally would also convey Al-Absi's requests to Shawkat. With the help of Shawkat's men, his brother had also managed to smuggle into northern Lebanon an explosives expert from Al-Qaeda known as Abu Ahmad Al-Iraqi, and later to smuggle him back into Syria

The disappearance of the leaders was confirmed by Islamist preacher Fathi Yakan, known to be close to the Syrian regime, who claims to have mediated the negotiation attempts between Fath Al-Islam and the Lebanese authorities in the past few weeks. On June 8, one day after the publication of Mari's information about the ties between Fath Al-Islam and Syrian intelligence, Yakan stated that the mediation attempts had run into difficulties owing to the sudden disappearance of the Fath Al-Islam leaders. "It seems," he said, "that something has happened in Nahr Al-Bared which has caused some of the Fath Al-Islam leaders to stop appearing [in public] and holding negotiations. Now, our only option is to negotiate with the [organization's] information officer, Shahin Shahin. This has complicated matters, [since] we are [no longer] meeting with the [organization's top] leader or hearing anything from him. In the past, we dealt with the head of the organization, Shaker Al-Absi, but now we are dealing with a different man, and we do not know what his status in the organization is, and to what extent he is authorized [to conduct negotiations]..."

In her column in Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, Sawsan Al-Abtah wondered about the disappearance of Fath Al-Islam's leaders and about who was really behind the organization:

"Suddenly, Shaker Al-Abs, the founder of Fath Al-Islam, has disappeared - as has senior military leader Abu Hurairah, who they say directed the battles against the Lebanese army at Nahr Al-Bared. Another leader who disappeared is Abu Salim Taha, known as the organization's spokesman, who maintained almost daily contact with journalists via cellphone...

Pro-Syrian Sheikh Fathi Yakan: Fath Al-Islam Has Become a Subordinate of Al-Qaeda

In addition to the disappearance of the Fath Al-Islam leaders connected to Syria, any link between Fath Al-Islam and Syria was denied on the argument that international Al-Qaeda had taken over Fath Al-Islam. This came despite the fact that the previous Fath Al-Islam leaders had repeatedly denied any connection between their organization and Al-Qaeda.


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