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International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism March 30, 2005 Hamas Recruit Admits Being Trained in Syria A 20 year-old Palestinian, recruited by the Hamas from a mosque in Jebaliya admitted to the Associated Press that he received five-weeks of military training in a Hamas training camp in Syria. Osama Mattar is being held at the Shikma prison in Askhelon. During the two-hour interview, which took place in the presence of security officials, he gave detailed description of the camp. His story could not be verified independently. Mattar said that the training base, which was outside of Damascus, was far from secret and was, at least on one occasion, visited and inspected by Syrian intelligence agents. The allegations drew no response from Syrian authorities. Meanwhile, Hamas officials denied the allegations, saying that they have plenty of training camps in Lebanon where there is a large Palestinian refugee community. Matter was arrested on March 2, when he attempted to cross back into Gaza, after spending five weeks at the Syrian camp. He has not been charged and is not accused of carrying out attacks. When asked why he had agreed to the interview, he said that he had no choice. Mattar explained that Hamas had asked him to go by to Syria for training with the intention of training other militants in Gaza. He left Gaza on December 4, 2004, telling Israeli border guards that he was going to study at Damascus University, which he had attended in the past. Once in Damascus he waited until he was contacted by a Hamas official. He was then given five days of training in personal safety. The training included learning to drive a car; where to live so as not to be targeted by Israeli missiles; and how to keep his mobile phone secure. He was also taught to use maps, read a compass, build an electric timer for a time bomb and how to use light weapons. He also fired rocket-propelled grenades and threw hand grenades. Mattar said that he was the only militant who was being trained. The Syrians have sought to diminish their association with terror groups, and although several militant leaders reside in the country, they have been careful not to embarrass their hosts, who have come under increasing international pressure to curtail military activity of terror organisation. The Syrian government says it once allowed militants to hold media offices in Damascus, but following Colin Powell's visit to the country in May 2003, those offices were closed. Sources: Ha'aretz, The Jerusalem Post ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Take a look at donorschoose.org, an excellent charitable web site for anyone who cares about public education! http://us.click.yahoo.com/_OLuKD/8WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
