Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

The Trial of Hariri’s Assassins and Al Qaeda | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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The misuse of Palestinians and barbaric groups from various Arab nationalities comes as no surprise, since there have been reports about their preparation, armament and infiltration [into other countries]. Accordingly, there is no doubting the numerous calculations that the death squads have been assigned to cause chaos this time. This is what was raised by the Syrian UN ambassador as he linked the ongoing battle in Lebanon to Saudi and other Arab groups.

Here, these parties, whether they are Syrian, Iranian or independent Palestinian and Lebanese factions, are further implicated because Jund al Sham and Fatah al Islam groups are classified as part of al Qaeda and its ideology and therefore the battle against them will be internationalized as in Somalia. After its rapid and marvelous victories, what brought about the end of the Islamic Courts Union’s regime in Somalia was its association with al Qaeda-linked groups. Various external powers joined forces and rushed to exterminate the regime, the leaders of which fled the country in a few days. Even when Eritrea hosted the fleeing leaders of the Islamic Courts as part of the African Horn’s usual game of enemy alliances, the Eritreans became targets of pursuit and accountability themselves.

Before the battles in Nahr al Bared, the problem of Syria and pro-Syrian forces was limited to the realm of the Lebanese dispute; however, when international terrorist groups, through use or support, become actual parties to the crisis, we will see a shift in the Lebanese issue. These implicated forces will find no international support, because everyone – whether the Russians, the Chinese or the Europeans – is part of the war against extremist groups. The latest events indicated the missing link that was referred to by MP Walid Jumblat, who linked Iraqi and Lebanese bombings and the fundamentalist suicide groups in Iraq and now in Lebanon.

The world is familiar with the pursuit of terrorist groups that does not require an international tribunal or invoking Chapter VII but rather immediate action. The circle of conflict has widened and we have now gone beyond the trial of Rafik Hariri’s assassins in pursuit of al Qaeda. Nobody can know the extent of the consequences of the pursuit. The trial of the assassins of Lebanese politicians, most notably Rafik al Hariri, is a slow-moving, highly complicated issue. For this reason I wonder how things pushed towards a most critical issue in order to influence a local one—the Lebanese assassinations.

To claim that these people all of a sudden and on their own decided to fight the Lebanese government does not suit the geographical and ideological line of the takfir current, which backs the opinion that they are groups sent as part of the present ruin and intimidation project in the Lebanese arena. As I said earlier in the article, however, they create a more dangerous situation and will cause politicians to consider the event in greater and more dangerous terms.