Fighting in the north of Lebanon raises key questions about the regional matrix of Islamist resistance alliances, writes Dyab Abu Jahjah.
Since the beginning of fighting in Nahr Al-Bared between the Lebanese army and Fatah Al-Islam (FAI) almost two months ago, many theories have been circulating on the nature and identity of the Islamist group. While the Lebanese government accused Syria of standing behind FAI, using it as cover to launch destabilising attacks on Lebanon, these allegations were gradually toned down, as no real evidence was forthcoming to sustain them. In the meantime, cells of Islamist fighters were dismantled in the northern and eastern regions of Lebanon, cells linked to FAI. This along with arrests and the captured bodies of dead FAI fighters all revealed a strong presence of Saudi and other Arab Gulf nationalities in FAI, alongside a very strong Lebanese presence. It appeared beyond doubt that FAI is a typical Salafi jihadi group attracting Arab fighters from Morocco to the Gulf, and also tapping into the reserve of Lebanese Salafism strongly represented in the north. The group`s spokesmen have declared on several occasions that they intend to train fighters to liberate occupied Jerusalem and also to participate in the jihad in Iraq against the US occupation. They also declared that they have no connection whatsoever to Al-Qaeda, and even less so to any Arab regimes -- including Syria -- since they perceive them all to be "enemies of God and collaborators".
