http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/08/20108155553428675.html
Sunday, August 15, 2010
09:45 Mecca time, 06:45 GMT
Lebanon kills armed group leader
Awad is believed to have replaced Shaker al-Abssi, right, as leader
of Fatah al-Islam [AFP]
Lebanese troops have killed one of the leaders of the armed group that battled
the army in 2007 at the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, a military spokesman has
said.
"Abdel Rahman Awad, one of the key leaders of Fatah al-Islam," was killed along
with another fighter known as Abu Bakr during clashes in the eastern Bekaa
Valley region on Saturday, the spokesman told AFP news agency.
An official said Abu Bakr was Awad's deputy, who provided military training to
members of Fatah al-Islam, a group said to be inspired by al-Qaeda.
In 2007, Fatah al-Islam fought a fierce battle against the Lebanese army at
Nahr al-Bared in northern Lebanon that raged for more than three months and
cost 400 lives, with 168 soldiers among the dead.
'Most wanted'
Authorities accuse Awad of having "incited" rebels to carry out attacks two
years ago in the port city of Tripoli, near the Palestinian camp, that killed
21 people, including 13 soldiers.
Those found guilty of incitement to carry out deadly attacks can face the death
penalty under Lebanese law.
Awad, one of the most wanted fighters in Lebanon, opened fire at troops along
with his comrade and the soldiers responded killing the pair, the spokesman
said.
The clash broke out in the Bekaa Valley town of Chtaura and both men were
travelling on false identities, the army said.
Earlier, the spokesman said the army had been pursuing the pair since they
emerged from another Palestinian refugee camp, Ain al-Hilweh in south Lebanon,
but he did not give a timing.
Several rebel groups are suspected of having taken refuge in the north and east
of the country, and in the 12 Palestinian refugee camps scattered across
Lebanon of which Ain el-Hilweh is the largest.
Three year hunt
Awad had been sheltering in Ain el-Hilweh for more than a year, according to
the army. Authorities also charge that the wanted fighter was monitoring the
movements of Lebanese army troops as well as of UN peacekeepers stationed in
south Lebanon.
Lebanese authorities suspected Awad of being the main leader of the Fatah
al-Islam group.
Members of the group arrested in Syria said in testimony aired on Syrian state
television two years ago that Awad took over the mantle from the group's former
leader Shaker Abssi, whose whereabouts remain unknown.
Abssi - who appears to have fled Lebanon - and a third member of the group,
Lebanese citizen Abdel Ghani Jawhar, also figure among the top wanted fighters.
Fatah al-Islam has been linked to deadly attacks that targeted senior army and
police officers in December 2007 and January 2008 respectively, as well as
three UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon in June 2007.
In August 2007, the US state department designated Fatah al-Islam, which denies
formal links with al-Qaeda, as a "terrorist" group.
