Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

FATAH AL-ISLAM • 185becoming more a proxy of Iranian, rather than Syrian, interests andwas becoming too powerful and independent within Lebanon forthe liking of the Syrian regime, whereas Fatah al-Islam would bewholly dependent on Syria. Although the Syrian regime has activelyopposed similar groups within its own borders, such as the MuslimBrotherhood, it has also supported similar groups within Iraq as ameans of undermining the former regime of Saddam Hussein. In addition,the instability created by such a group would provide Syriawith the pretext of seeking to preserve public safety in order to reenterLebanon to impose once more its control there.The group came to world attention on 19 May 2007, when an attemptedpolice raid in Tripoli against Fatah al-Islam members suspectedof armed robbery ended with a shoot-out and barricade situationat an apartment used by Fatah al-Islam as an office. While several ofthe Fatah al-Islam members escaped, the remaining one blew himselfup to evade capture. The Lebanese army then blockaded the Nahr alBared refugee camp, containing more than 30,000 inhabitants, wherea battle between army troops and Fatah al-Islam members raged from20 May 2007 until 2 September 2007. In the course of the gunfire andartillery bombardments, some 222 inhabitants of the camp were killedwhile the army lost at least 158 troops. The exact number of Fatah al-Islam members killed is not known but it is believed that most of themescaped from the camp, including al-Abssi. After the group’s defeatand flight from Tripoli, al-Abssi then lost his leadership position toAbdurrahman Mohammad Awad, who turned away from Syria andtoward Saudi Arabia for backing. Although the Lebanese army hadultimately prevailed, the long duration of this siege and the high casualtiessuffered by the Syrian army exposed the weakness of the Sinioragovernment and its unpreparedness to deal with what was a relativelyminor group compared to the standing challenge of Hezbollah.On 27 September 2008 at least 200 kilograms of explosives packedinside a car was detonated by a suicide bomber in Damascus on theroad to the city’s international airport, killing 17 and injuring 14 others.The blast occurred only 100 meters from a building used by the Palestinianbranch of the Syrian military intelligence organization and alsoon the route used by Shi’ite pilgrims visiting the shrine of Zaynab, thesister of Imam Hussayn. This was the deadliest car bombing in Syriasince the 12 February 2008 assassination of Hezbollah covert operationsleader Imad Mughniyah. Such events are unusual within such a