Last update - 00:00 08/01/2008
Fatah Islam leader slams Lebanon's army chief in new audio message
By The Associated Press
The fugitive leader of the al-Qaida-inspired militant Fatah Islam group lashed out at the head of Lebanon's army, accusing him of destroying a Palestinian refugee camp as part of deal to become the country's next president, according to an audio tape posted on a militant Web site Monday.
Shaker Youssef al-Absi also warned Gen. Michel Suleiman's followers that they his fighters would hunt them down.
The 57-minute tape was the first purported message from the Fatah Islam leader since fighting first broke out between the militant group and the Lebanese military at the Nahr el-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon in May. The battle at the camp ended in early September, and he remains at large.
In the audiotape, titled Warning and Escape, al-Absi criticized Lebanon's Suleiman, who led the fight against Fatah Islam and has most recently emerged as a consensus candidate for president.
"Nahr el-Bared is completely devastated and its people have become homeless and Michel Suleiman sits on their skulls from the presidency chair," al-Absi said.
He accused Suleiman of only waging a battle against Fatah Islam in the camp for political purposes, including appeasing the United States.
"America's intervention forced a deal. They told the commander, 'If you want the presidency, then you must present the head of Nahr el-Bared,'" he said, meaning Suleiman was pressured to destroy the camp.
He also threatened Suleiman's followers and called soldiers who fought under him infidels.
"I swear to Allah we will not leave you in peace, and we will hunt you down," he said.
The more than three-month siege at Nahr el-Bared destroyed large parts of the camp. The government has said about 220 militants and 168 Lebanese soldiers were killed, while Palestinian officials have said 47 Palestinian civilians died.
The tape could not immediately be independently verified, but it appeared on a Web site commonly used by Islamic militants. In the tape, al-Absi did not indicate where he was located. Authorities have said he had fled Nahr el-Bared hours before the army took over.
"This is the first word after the heroic battle in Nahr el-Bared camp," al-Absi said.
Fatah Islam had set up base in Nahr el-Bared in late 2006. Authorities say the group is made up of Muslim militants of various nationalities, and Al-Absi is a Palestinian linked to the late leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. He was sentenced to death in absentia in Jordan for his involvement in the 2002 murder of U.S. diplomat Laurence Foley in Amman.
Rival lawmakers in Lebanon have agreed to back Suleiman as a compromise candidate for Lebanon's presidency, but his election has been delayed. The parliament must first amend the constitution to allow a sitting military chief to become president, but the process has been complicated by the opposition's demand for a new unity government that would give it veto power.
The politically divided country has been without a president since former President Emile Lahoud's term ended Nov. 23.
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