Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: In Syria, Lebanon’s Most Wanted Sunni Terrorist Blows Himself Up

Perbacco, si sono accorti adesso che l'insurrezione siriana tra 
mercenari pagati dai sauditi, infiltrati, jihadisti, truppe speciali 
europee, professionisti del terrorismo, fa molto più schifo del regime 
di Assad?
 
Mah!  La Siria ora ha una costituzione pluralista e democratica, e tra 
poco ci saranno le elezioni.  I sedicenti democratici dovranno scoprire 
le loro carte.
 
------------------------------------
In Syria, Lebanon’s Most Wanted Sunni Terrorist Blows Himself Up
Lebanese terror leader Abdel Ghani Jawhar detonated himself accidentally 
in Syria, raising questions about the kind of company the rebels are keeping
By Aryn Baker | @arynebaker | April 23, 2012 | +
 
By Aryn Baker and Rami Aysha/Beirut
 
When one of Lebanon’s most wanted terrorists kills himself while 
planting a bomb it is cause for at least some sort of grim celebration. 
But when the chief bomb-maker of the country’s most notorious terror 
group self detonates while helping rebels fight in Syria, it is cause 
for concern.
 
TIME has learned that Abdel Ghani Jawhar, one of the leaders of the 
Sunni fundamentalist terror group Fatah al-Islam, died in the Syrian 
city of Qsair on Friday night. The founding cleric of Fatah al Islam, 
Sheikh Osama al Shihabi, confirmed Jawhar’s death to TIME with a quote 
from the Koran: “‘We are for God and to him we return.’ We as Mujahideen 
are used to being killed and if God wants to give those killed dignity 
he gives them martyrdom. This is the path of righteousness.”
 
This is not the first time that Jawhar is thought to have been killed; 
several previous death announcements have been retracted over the years. 
News of his death has been relayed by multiple—and unrelated—sources in 
both Syria and Lebanon. According to a fellow fighter, who goes by the 
nom de guerre Abu Ali, Jawhar had been preparing an explosive device to 
be used against the Syrian army, which had been attempting to enter the 
rebel-dominated town not far from Homs. As Abu Ali narrated the tale 
over Skype, the sound of bombs and explosions could be heard in the 
background. Jawhar’s bomb went off prematurely, says Abu Ali. “He was 
killed directly. We wanted to send his body back to Lebanon but we 
couldn’t because it was torn into pieces.” Instead Jawhar’s fellow 
fighters were forced to bury what was left of him in a neighboring 
garden because it was impossible to reach the graveyard during heavy 
fighting.
 
According to Abu Ali and another fellow fighter, Jawhar arrived in Qsair 
two weeks ago with a group of 30 Lebanese fighters. While many were 
members of Fatah al-Islam, they were not traveling under the terror 
group’s banner. Instead they called themselves mujahideen, holy warriors 
seeking to help fellow Muslims under attack by the Syrian regime. 
Jawhar, an explosives expert and a charismatic commander, sought to 
train fellow fighters how make bombs. In the short time he had been in 
Qsair, says Abu Ali, he was able to set up dozens of improvised 
explosive devices destined for members of the Syrian security forces. 
“His aim was to make a tour in all the districts of Syria to teach the 
fighters on how to fight a guerrilla war.”
 
For his efforts, Abu Ali calls Jawhar a hero and a martyr. For Syrian 
rebels seeking international assistance in their battle to force Syrian 
President Bashar Assad out of office, it’s a public relations headache. 
The Free Syrian Army, as well as other Syrian resistance groups, has 
long sought to downplay regime accusations that the rebels are aligned 
with Islamic fundamentalists and pro-al-Qaeda groups. While Fatah 
al-Islam has denied any association with al-Qaeda, there are links 
between the group and individual members. The implication that an 
al-Qaeda affiliated group is helping Syrian rebels build bombs and 
foment a guerrilla war could radically alter perceptions in the West, 
bringing to a halt discussions of arming the rebels and establishing a 
no-fly zone. “The death of Jawhar on Syrian soil emphasizes the fears of 
the international community that if they gave weapons to the Syrian 
rebels they will end up in the hands of radical groups,” says Lebanese 
University professor and Fatah al-Islam expert Talal Atrissi. “The 
Syrian opposition will be embarrassed from the fact that such a man is 
fighting alongside the rebels.”
 
The account of Jawhar’s border crossing has been confirmed by Lebanese 
intelligence authorities who say that they had been alerted to his 
movements but were unable to stop him. “He escaped as always,” sighs a 
senior intelligence official who says that Jawhar had been nicknamed 
“mercury” for his uncanny ability to evade arrest—at least 34 times, by 
the official’s estimate.  Lebanese security sources say they too have 
received information about Jawhar’s death, though they were unable to 
establish any details. “If his death is confirmed then we lost a big 
catch, he was a real treasure trove of information,” says the official.
 
Jawhar is accused of masterminding multiple bomb attacks against U.N. 
security forces in Lebanon as well as Lebanese security installations 
that have killed scores and injured hundreds. According to the official, 
he is a person of interest in some 200 unsolved cases of murder, 
assassinations, attempted assassinations and explosive attacks. He is 
also thought to have killed a Christian shopkeeper in the northern city 
of Tripoli because he sold alcohol. “This is a major loss for Lebanese 
security, for the information he is believed to have about the terror 
groups operating in the region,” says Atrissi. And while Jawhar’s death 
would be a major blow for the group, which had already been decimated by 
a slew of high profile arrests and the deaths of several leaders in 
succession, “it doesn’t mean that the region will become a safer place,” 
says Atrissi. “Each member of such groups is a potential Abdel Ghani 
Jawhar.”
 
A 30-year-old biochemist from northern Lebanon, Jawhar came of age 
during the country’s brutal civil war.  First he joined the Muslim 
Brotherhood, but left over doctrinal disputes—he felt that the group was 
not strict enough in its interpretation of Sharia, or Islamic law. He 
then joined, and left, the extremely conservative Salafis for the same 
reasons, and finally became a member of Fatah al-Islam in 2008. He was 
promoted to leader after his predecessor was killed in a 2010 shootout 
with Lebanese security forces. According to the Lebanese intelligence 
official, he was a master recruiter, and even managed to induct Lebanese 
soldiers to his cause. His terror efforts spanned Lebanon, Syria and 
Iraq, where he is thought to be responsible for several of the 
devastating explosions that killed international troops.  “He was a 
network by himself,” says the official. “He had relations all over the 
region; he was a ruthless killer.”
 
Jawhar is also implicated in the murders of a Lebanese general, a major 
in Intelligence and a Member of Parliament. He nearly succeeded in 
killing the head of the Lebanese army as well as the head of Internal 
Security. His death in Syria, says the official, may be seen as a 
welcome comeuppance in some quarters, “but for us, it’s devastating. 
It’s an issue of personal revenge between Jawhar and the Intelligence 
service.” It also raises concerns over the insurgency struggling across 
the border in Syria.
 
Aryn Baker is TIME’s Middle East Bureau Chief, based in Beirut. Find her 
on Twitter at @arynebaker. You can also continue the discussion on 
TIME’s Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIMEWorld.
 
-- 
Sostieni Rete ECO
 
http://rete-eco.it/it/sostienici.html
 
 

 in Syria, raising questions about the kind of company the rebels are keeping
 
le questions non sono raising, si sa dall'inizio che feccia sia armata
dall'occidente. Del resto è sempre così, peggio sono e più li armano

carte.
 
:-) comico