They hate Israel, but they hate Hezbollah more
They hate Israel, but they hate Hezbollah more – Israel News, Ynetnews.
( “Clowns to the left of me, Jokers to the right, here I am, Stuck in the middle with you.” – JW )
Abdullah Azzam Brigades took responsibility for rocket fire at Israel on Thursday, but also defies Hezbollah for backing Syrian regime. Al-Qaeda affiliated group also linked to rocket launches at Eilat
Roi Kais
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In an ironic turn of events, over the last months Sunni world jihad elements in Lebanon have become a common enemy for Israel and its nemesis, the Shiite Hezbollah .
The radical groups have already dealt several blows to Hezbollah, the most recent of which was the car-bombing of the movement’s stronghold in southern Beirut, only several months after the first rocket attacks in the same area in May.
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As Hezbollah’s leader is driving his movement deeper into the Syrian mire, his movement is garnering sharper acrimony, now starting to coalesce into actions, sometimes directed at Israel, like the rockets launched on Thursday toward the Galilee.
Iron Dome interception, Thursday
World jihad activity in Lebanon is not a new phenomenon. As early as 2007 the al-Qaeda affiliated Fatah al-Islam group fought bloody skirmishes with the Lebanese army in the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee
camp in northern Lebanon, with casualties numbering in the hundreds.
About two months ago the city of Sidon was the scene for similarly bloody exchanges between the same
jihad group and the fanatic salafist sheikh Ahmad al-Asir’s men.
Fatah al-Islam, which still has remnants in Palestinian refugee camps in the country, is joined by other groups such as the Lebanese-Palestinian Jund al-Sham, which operates in the Palestinian refugee camp Ain al-Hilweh in Sidon and the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, which is rapidly attaining a prominent place among the medley of groups operating in refugee camps in southern Lebanon, especially with regards to attacks against Israel.
Site of Israeli airstrike, south of Beirut (Photo: Reuters)
UN troops in a rocket landing site (Photo: Adham Mohamed)
Landing site in Gesher Haziv (Photo: Aviyahu Shapira)
The Abdullah Azzam Brigades is a radical Sunni group, affiliated with al-Qaeda groups around the Middle East, and has offshoots in Egypt, Iraq and other areas in the region.
The group was established in 2004 and named after sheikh Abdullah Azzam, a Palestinian, one of the
founding fathers of the Afghani al-Qaeda group and, according to some, the mentor of future al-Qaeda leader Osama bin-Laden.
Challenging Hezbollah
The group has a distinct Palestinian orientation, and is responsible for attacks in Egypt and for rocket fire toward Aqaba and Eilat. Its Lebanese presence became more prominent in recent years after it claimed responsibility for several rocket launches at Israel from southern Lebanon.
Its Lebanese branch is dubbed the Ziad Jarrah Battalion, named after one of the Lebanese perpetrators of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Heading the group, according to some reports, is sheikh Majid ben-Mohamed Majid, a Saudi wanted by Saudi Arabia for security reasons.
Beyond its belligerent agenda against Israel and Jews in general, in recent months the group has also challenged the Shiite Hezbollah , following the latter’s involvement in the Syrian civil war.
Abdullah Azzam Brigades take responsibility for firing rockets at Israel in 2009
In early August the group stated that as it has warned Shiites many times that they are on the bring of destruction, Nasrallah’s bases are now viable targets.
They have since claimed responsibility for several attacks on Hezbollah posts, including in the Lebanon Valley and also in the Dahiyeh neighborhood in Beirut.
The Sunni Lebanese sheikh, Siraj a-Din Zarikhat, sponsored by the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, slammed Hezbollah in a tweet on Thursday.
“The Iranian party Hezbollah’s mission to protect Jews will become a burden,” he posted after claiming the Abdullah Azzam Brigades are behind the rocket launches at Israel.
Additionally, several other al-Qaeda-affiliated minor groups operate across Lebanon, and have placed Hezbollah in their crosshairs due to its Syrian involvement.
For instance, the 300-gunmen strong Abdullah al-Sabaa group which operates in Tripoli, the site of much bloodshed in recent months due to clashes between the anti-Assad Sunni extremists and his Alawite
supporters.
Sleeper cells
Concurrently, several groups operate in the village of Arsal in the Lebanon Valley area, near the Syrian border.
These groups, led by the Hassan Dar’am group, are deployed in the mountains bordering on Syria. Another al-Qaeda affiliated group is active in the al-Kaa village near the Syrian border.
Recently, Lebanese security services uncovered sleeper cells in the Mount Lebanon area. Lebanese Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said security services tracked a cell which planned to attack in several
areas in Lebanon.
The cell was exposed due to a work-related accident in an apartment in the town of Daria. “Lebanon is defended by coincidence these days,” said the minister.
After the accident, security services searched the apartment and found a target list, maps, explosives and Jabhat al-Nusra flags.
A few days ago Lebanese security nabbed another cell in the Noaima village between Beirut and Sidon, where the IDF attacked on Friday morning.
A car carrying explosives was found and neutralized. Several persons have been arrested, including some Palestinians. Lebanese media affiliated with Hezbollah claimed the security forces thwarted an attack
against the Lebanese state.
The PFLP
Another piece in this puzzle is Ahmed Jibril, the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which one of its bases was bombed by the IDF on Friday.
Ahmed Jibril (Photo: AFP)
The PFLP’s spokesperson in Lebanon disavowed any connection between the group and Thursday’s rocket launches. Jibril established the group in the ’60s, after a rift with the Palestinian Liberation
Organization.
The PFLP objects to any peace deal with Israel and supports the armed struggle against it. Jibril is one of the few top Palestinian officials whose loyalty to Bashar Assad‘s regime remains unwavering.
As far as is currently known, he still resides in Syria, contrary to several Hamas officials who left after expressing firm opinions against the Syrian regime. Jibril was even lightly wounded some months ago in a
rebel attack in the Damascus area.
In recent years the PFLP has been linked to several rocket launches at Israel from southern Lebanon.
However, the group is now almost dormant compared to its initial years. The PFLP is mainly remembered due to the 1985 Jibril Deal, which saw the release of three IDF prisoners of war from the First Lebanon War in return for 1,150 prisoners in Israeli jails.
After the May 2012 Damascus bombing, alleged to Israel by foreign media, top Syrian officials including Assad himself announced the possibility of opening a new front on the Golan Heights against Israel.
Tapped as a potential dominant candidate in that front, Ahmad Jibril congratulated the new direction drawn by Syria.
After the attacks, an unidentified Palestinian group claimed responsibility for mortar fire toward the
Hermon.
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WarSclerotic 
August 23, 2013 at 9:19 PM
“All for one!” “One for all!” “Every man for himself!”
-Larry, Moe, and Curly
August 24, 2013 at 12:02 AM
We, the people who are contributing to this serious site, are deadly worried about the last events in Syria and I’ll tell you why.
Its not ”only” the fact that innocent civilians and a great number of little, innocent children, where murdered with this evil weapon, deadly gas; its already not about the disgusting ”red line” of the American president regarding the ”game changer” that will be an use of such weapons in Syria. I’ll tell you about what this tragedy is all about.
Is about us, the Israelis, in the first and last place. And I’m not talking here about the blood of the innocents in the concentrations camps who were murdered by the Nazis by the use of toxic gas, blood that is crying its cry to the Heavens and doesn’t allow the angels to rest there. No, sir, I wont talk about this grave, heavy, unresolved trauma which has marked my people until the last days of the humanity.
Its about the fact that, after such weapon was deployed and used with such deadly results, nobody in this world is about to do something about it. That means that Israel, if one day, is to be attacked by surprise with weapons of mass destruction, nobody will do anything about that, not before the action, not while the deadly clouds will cover our land and not after the deadly attack.
That means only one thing: Israel has to deal very fast with its regional problems regarding the weapons of mass destruction, and, to start with, Israel should lead an example action right now, in Syria, for all those players out here to notice that not only we wont tolerate using of such weaponry in and around our region, we’ll drastically punish any criminal out here, even before he is thinking to turn his arsenal against us.
Its about our existence as human beings and enforcing the deterrence against any foe of our country.
August 24, 2013 at 1:13 AM
Luis,
The words that have been angrily spinning around in my head all afternoon were so beautifully written by you, thank you. Evil is being perpetrated before us, during our lifetime, at this very moment. Those who do not act against evil are accessories. Hannah Arendt’s “The Banality of Evil” is not Eichman, it is Obama and every person who ignores this. Not challenged, just as history shows us, the evil only grows and becomes worse. As a Jew, I cannot sit and watch this happening. Assad needs to be destroyed as do the Jihadists. The Syrian refugees deserve to come home, their injured cared for. This can be done, and must be done.
August 24, 2013 at 2:25 AM
Thank you, Norm, for your sincere words. We All Feel The Same.
August 24, 2013 at 1:03 AM
BREAKING. @CBSDavidMartin reports US naval commander orders warships to move closer to Syria to be ready for possible Cruise missile strike.
August 24, 2013 at 1:09 AM
NewsBreaker @NewsBreaker 1m
DEVELOPING: U.S. Joint Chiefs Chair General Dempsey expected to present options for Syria strike at White House tomorrow –
August 24, 2013 at 1:15 AM
Most likely Obama bullshit
August 24, 2013 at 1:17 AM
The evening news has been mentioning for over an hour that a cruise missile strike may be ordered. I see, give Assad a 48-72 hour notice to put everything away…..unbelievable!
August 24, 2013 at 1:18 AM
@chucktodd
Obama admin appears to be debating WHAT military action to take against Syria. Not really debating IF anymore more
August 24, 2013 at 2:13 AM
Obama has all of the sense of a retarded child when using the military. He will flail and wail accomplishing nothing.