"In Lebanon, Arab fighters are ready to die in Iraq"
By Evan Kohlmann
(care of Reuters)
"On a quiet autumn night, a mosque loudspeaker shatters the silence in this poor Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon. 'With all pride and grace, we announce to you the martyrdom of our
mujahideen brothers Mohamed Ahmed al-Kurdi and Nidal Hussein Mustafa in
the battlefields of jihad in Iraq,' the speaker blares across the
narrow streets of Ain el-Hilweh. The deaths brought to three the
number of residents from the camp killed in Iraq in November alone,
making a total of five in the past four months. Arab fighters
have played a key role in Iraq's insurgency since the U.S.-led invasion
in 2003. Militants led by Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi have been
blamed for a relentless series of attacks, suicide bombings and
beheadings. The U.S. military has said that Zarqawi is trying to
bring more foreign fighters into the country because many of his Iraqi
associates have been rounded up or killed... Usbat
al-Ansar, which was founded by a Palestinian but now includes many
Lebanese as members, follows the same strict version of Sunni Islam as
bin Laden. The group, which has a base in Ain el-Hilweh and
openly admits links to bin Laden, says dozens of its members have
joined the insurgency since the U.S.-led invasion. 'Usbat
al-Ansar is offering military and logistical support to al Qaeda in all
the battlegrounds of jihad including Iraq,' said the group's spokesman,
who called himself Abu Shareef... There are few tears in Ain el-Hilweh for the latest local men to
die in Iraq. The relatives of Nidal Hussein Mustafa, a Palestinian who
sold his falafel stand to pay for the trip to Iraq, welcome visitors
with dates to celebrate his martyrdom. His mother is not wearing the traditional black of mourning. 'I could not tell him to stay, I would have angered God. So I told him
go,' said Umm Mohamed, whose two other sons are also members of Usbat
al-Ansar. One went to Iraq last month. 'I don't know whether I
am happy or sad. I guess both, I am sad because I lost him and will
never see him again and happy because he is in heaven,' she said."
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