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Lebanon Violence Is Viewed As Omen
Palestinians continue to flee the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon, where fighting broke out Sunday.
(By Hussein Malla -- Associated Press)
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Fatah al-Islam, the militant band behind this week's fighting in the north, is led by Shaker al-Abssi, who founded his group in the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp late last year after serving a three-year prison sentence in Syria on terrorism charges. A Palestinian, Abssi has said his goal is to bring Lebanon's 12 Palestinian refugee camps into compliance with Islamic law and then challenge Israel.
"If you are a terrorist in Syria, you will be sentenced to death," retired Lebanese army Gen. Elias Hanna said in a telephone interview. "So how come this guy left Syria to come to Lebanon to create this mess?"
This week's violence has not happened in isolation. For months, smaller bombs have exploded or been discovered weekly, often daily, across Beirut, as the government struggles with a sometimes violent political stalemate with the Shiite Hezbollah movement.
Although hundreds of thousands of Lebanese shouted in public squares for Syria's withdrawal after Hariri's killing, some are returning now to the days when they hesitated to say the name of Lebanon's tougher neighbor in crowds.
"It's a message. A signal," said Tony Ezzi, owner of a women's clothing store in Verdun.
From whom? "You know," Ezzi said. "You know."
Correspondent Anthony Shadid in Yemen contributed to this report.
