More details have emerged from investigating the captured Fateh Al Islam members. This from Annahar today:
Translation (mine):
As the rounding up of suspects in Tripoli intensified, Annahar obtained insider information from the investigations. “The Fateh Al Islam scheme was comparable to a ‘Lebanese September 11′ in its scope. It involves destroying a large hotel in Beirut in addition to bombing Shikka tunnels.”
But the most significant bit was this last sentence:
The explosives they were planning to use arrived to Lebanon via Syria. They were found in a warehouse in Tripoli.
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The beirut spring is a blog that is interested in Lebanese society and its politics. It started in February 2005 after the assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri
June 3rd, 2007 at 10:26 am
Does this foiling of the ill attmept by the Fateh al Islam mean the end of their motivation and plot, the rounding up of all its members? This shows how dangerously Lebanon is near total collapse. I think Lebanon needs a fresh new constitution that is 100% democratic. So what is the politics for and against granting Palestinian refugees Lebanese citizenship? If they are kept in the margins of society for sixty years, like the Shiites, what then do you expect from them?
June 3rd, 2007 at 11:33 am
This clearly demonstrates the danger that comes from half-assed measures.
June 3rd, 2007 at 2:28 pm
No, this clearly shows how the Lebanese government is in cynically wrapping its tactics against the camps in the same language as George W Bush.
Strange how the Lebanese, full of righteous victimhood last year, can deploy the exact same language as the IDF and the Pentagon…
June 3rd, 2007 at 2:31 pm
No, this clearly shows how the Lebanese government is cynically wrapping its war-mongering tactics against the Palestinian camps with the exact same garbled pretexts as George W Bush in Iraq and Ariel Sharon in Jenin.
Strange how the Lebanese, full of righteous victimhood last year, can suddenly retort to the “the terrorists must be smashed” nonsense of the IDF and the Pentagon.
Of, course there was a “Lebanese 9/11″ just thwarted… what better way to get the idiot masses to stand behind a hoplessly impotent puppet PM?
Disgusting.
June 3rd, 2007 at 3:13 pm
cos that puppet is better then the other puppets…..it all depends on where the strings lead really.
June 3rd, 2007 at 11:09 pm
Yea Lowfield great!! Notice how your comment is cynical and conspiratorial at best. Bush/Pentagon/Neo-conservatives/corporate america/the world bank/the imf they are the true evil that exists and Fouad Siniora, in your opinion, is complicit to this grand scheme to destroy the poor and angel-like victims, the palestinians. I’m sure you believe that the March 14 parties fabricated the whole fatah islam/jund al sham/pflp threat and that Hariri/Jumblatt/Geagea are the ones who promote corruption, injustice and anarchy and the victims are Hezb/Amal/Maradeh/SSP/Haraket al sha3b and the BAATH regime in syria….who are you kidding if you actually believe that the latter March 8 group is looking for a truly democratic, independent, stable and prosperous Lebanon!!! Do you think the latter group are the ones who are advocating a vision of prosperity!!! Almost every politician in the world has dirt on his/her hands. Get real! There are no black vs white ideals in politics especially when we are far far away from being a ‘utopia’. We need to start prioritizing! The Baath regime and their puppets Hezb/and etc. are more of a threat to the stability and independece of lebanon and its future convergence towards a prosperous progressive nation than the former group…PERIOD!! There are two problems at the core of the problem: lebanese identiy…and rule of law. These are the two primary issues in the creation of an independent state. Stop complaining about corruption, propaganda and incompetence people!! The G8 countries have THOSE problems we have more important ones to tackle!!
June 4th, 2007 at 6:57 am
“Conspiratorial”… because no government ever has hyped threats to stifle debate? No government has used non-existent terrorist plots to bolster domestic control…?
No, no one could possibly suspect that Siniora, wilting in the polls and the subject of opposition from a unique union between the Shia poor and the Christian right, would ever contemplate plucking from his well-tailored back pocket a “Lebanese 9/11″?
It’s interesting, though, Mido how your list of problems faced by Lebanon doesn’t include one sentence on the 400,000 people systematically excluded from Lebanese life – whether in terms of basic rights or participation in the economy.
But keep singing the national anthem, keep praising the brave troops – those hardy souls who so stoically protected you from last year’s Israeli onslaught (no… wait…) – and thank the lord Hariri bequeathed a son to keep the real estate boom going…
Yes, I am cynical. Give me a reason to be otherwise in the Middle East of the 21st Century…
June 4th, 2007 at 10:43 am
Mustapha, thank you for pointing out the error in my post. It has been corrected.
June 4th, 2007 at 11:18 am
I know I won’t be able to convince you Lowfield, but I understood the Lebanese 9/11 came from the documents from Fateh al Islam itself. You see, Fateh al Islam celebrates 9/11. The celebrate mass murder and destruction and they want to match the 9/11 death toll. That is why they had a warehouse full of explosives. Bush had nothing to do with this, but Syria certainly did.
June 4th, 2007 at 1:44 pm
Lowfields:
I won’t even try to explain how wrong your post is but i will say this……fuck you Jew.
oh and your Hezb/syrian friends. You are all the same; none of you want to see this great country prosper.
did i say fuck you…if not then: fuck you Jew.
June 4th, 2007 at 11:47 pm
non-existant terrorist plots?? I know i dont have the evidence, the facts, and solid proof beyond any doubt that the plots exist, but, unless you think that the militants in the Nahr al Bared camp are non-existant too and that the bombs that keep going off in Lebanese cities are a figment of our imagination and that the attacks against the Lebanese Army were lies, you have no case whatsoever or any reason to believe that these plots don’t exist. Why would the Siniora government need to fabricate plots? Everyone in the country supports the army, and everyone is already motivated enough in their desire to see Fatah al Islam brought to justice. There certainly isn’t a need to instil a sense of fear in the Lebanese anymore by stories of plots. Bombs go off every week, they started off as plots!
And about the 400,000 thousand palestinians you’re talking about…
1. Do you actually think that the Siniora government is actively engaged in a sinister plan to isolate the palestinian refugees and keep them living in poverty? Why? For laughs? I suggest you visit Beib al tabaneh in tripoli where there are thousands of poverty-striken LEBANESE. What Arab country has done anything effective in support of the palestinian cause? What has the Baath regime done? For God’s sake what have the palestinians done that has effectively helped their cause? I can’t think of anything.
2. You speak as if the government of lebanon really has authority and the ability to enforce the rule of law across the whole country, and that we are living in a country where the government has billions of dollars in surplus revenue to throw away as a result of the many years of stability that the country has faced. All the Lebanese are living lavish lives, peacefully with no political instability and there arent 1 million syrian workers in the country adding to the drain on the economy, specifically the lower class!! In addition to having to deal with two asshole neighbors( i call them Soosoo and Soosoo) we have to deal with Hezb and their compatriots, post-war recovery, militant groups, etc. and all of this within the frameworks and institutions that the Syrians devised when they were in Lebanon!! Do you think Siniora has a magic frikin wand??? Some of the problems that a few people mention exist in all countries including G8 ones!! Do you really think that Siniora should have dealt with the infinite problems that Lebanon faces while dealing with all the constraints stated above from day one!!! Get real people and especially you Lowfields! God bless the Lebanese Army and Fouad Siniora!!
June 5th, 2007 at 10:03 pm
Mido
fantastic….like I said to our friend Lowfields:
‘I’ won’t even try to explain how wrong your post is but you did a great job of it…..you could have saved yourself the trouble and just say…..”fuck you Jew” like I did. Great post though. Thanks for saving me the time.
Jalal
June 6th, 2007 at 2:43 pm
Good argument, Jalal… I’ve been called many things, but “a fucking Jew” isn’t one them. Win a lot of arguments with your powerful debating style?
Or did the evil wittle Palestinians stweel wor cwayons?
Retard.
Siniora is a powerless stooge, an embarassment to his post and his country. Tears when his brave army ran away last summer and left Hezbollah to do the work of defending the country from invasion, Arab League invites when faced with Olmert-like unpopulairty – “But my people love me!” – and now dropping in references to 9/11.
He’s a fucking champ. In fact, you’re right, Mido… he does need God’s blessing. And anyone else’s…. Bush’s? Peres’? Prince f***ing Bandar’s?
The you ask: “What Arab country has done anything effective in support of the palestinian cause?”
Well, a country called Jordan gave the majority of Palestinian refugees citizenship and full national rights and they effectively built the country… f**k, it’s actually better to be a Palestinian in Israel than your “Liberal, Western Democracy”.
But, no, you keep them penned up, keep them out of jobs, keep them in squalor… then express dismay when there may be just a little bit of extremism.
But you’re Lebanese and you’ve got tables to dance on….
It’s not me that needs to wake up.