Amitai Etzioni David Katz Harsh Pant - Middle East Forum

Outward manifestations ofmodernity disappeared withthe imposition of a total banon the sale of alcoholic beveragesas well as the shutteringof movie theaters, European-styleroadside cafes,and tennis and golf courts.Shaaban took advantageof the rising pan-Islamistsentiment among Tripoli’sreligious and conservativepopulation. He received amajor boost from the successof the Islamic revolutionin Iran, with which he identified,and from whose financiallargesse he benefitted.He also relied heavily on thefinancial and military supportof Yasser Arafat’s Fatahmovement, which maintaineda strong military presencein Tripoli, especially innearby Nahr al-Barid and al-Baddawi Palestinian refugee camps. DuringIsrael’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon, Yakan createdtwo guerrilla movements to combat the IsraeliDefense Forces (IDF): al-Mujahideen (TheJihadists) in Tripoli and al-Fajr (Dawn) in Sidon.The Israeli eviction of the Palestine LiberationOrganization from southern Lebanon andBeirut in 1982 and the Syrian expulsion of Fatahguerrillas from Tripoli in 1983 were followed in1985 by a withering assault by Syrian alliesagainst at-Tawhid forces, which ended in destroyingthe movement’s military machine. Theanti-at-Tawhid coalition included the Baath Party,the Communist Party, the Syrian Social NationalistParty, and the Alawite Arab DemocraticParty. Syrian intelligence operatives and LebaneseAlawites raided at-Tawhid’s stronghold inBab at-Tibbane and massacred some six hundredSunnis. 6 This singular incident caused anPhoto will not display.DATELINEUntil the mid-1970s, the profoundly conservative and devoutcity of Tripoli remained a rare oasis of religious and culturaldiversity. The city has now become synonymous with poverty,misery, and deprivation. Minimum monthly wages are as low as$170, compared to the average Lebanese wage of $335. Whereas28 percent of the Lebanese population is below the povertyline, in Tripoli, the rate is 57 percent.enduring schism between Tripoli and the Syrianregime and served as an impetus for the subsequentemergence of extremely radical jihadistgroups, especially Usbat an-Nur (Partisans ofthe Divine Light) of Sheikh Hisham ash-Sharidi,assassinated by Fatah operatives in 1991. 7 Themore lethal Islamist Abdulkarim as-Saadi tookover the group and reintroduced it as Usbat al-Ansar (The Partisans League).SAUDI VS. HEZBOLLAHRADICALIZINGEmbittered by the 1985 events, Tripoli’sSalafi movement gathered momentum with theend of the civil war, which prompted many northernLebanese clerics to return from Saudi Arabiawhere they had been schooled in radicalWahhabi-type religious training. In 1995, theseIslamists killed Nizar Halabi, head of the pro-5 Asharq al-Awsat, May 25, 2007.6 Al-Mustaqbal (Beirut), Dec. 5, 2007. 7 Asharq al-Awsat, May 25, 2007.Khashan: Tripoli, Lebanon / 87