Word: tripoli
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Much remains a mystery about Fatah al-Islam, the Palestinian-led Sunni Muslim fundamentalist faction that sprang up six months ago and is at the center of Lebanon's latest fighting. What is known, however, indicates that the group based near the northern coastal city of Tripoli is a product of past Middle East conflict, a manifestation of present unrest in Lebanon and an ominous sign of future turmoil throughout the region...
...many as 200 people in Tripoli and north Lebanon were rounded up by Lebanese authorities last month and accused of ties to al-Qaeda, stockpiling weapons and planning attacks. "They were all innocent people," says Sheikh Ibrahim Salih, a prominent Salafist cleric in Tripoli. "They [the government] want to keep the Sunni street under control and to convince the Americans they are fighting terrorism...
...others argue that blaming Syria for all Lebanon's problems is the default position of the March 14 coalition and the government, and that Fatah al-Islam is a genuine Islamist organization dedicated to the Palestinian cause. Tripoli resident Mohsen Mohammed, 35, an adherent of the strict Salafi school of Sunni Islam and a sympathizer of Fatah al-Islam, says that the group's popularity has been steadily increasing in the Nahr al-Bared camp. "They help people by giving them food and aid. They are very disciplined and polite and never carry arms in the camp except at times...
...Fatah al-Islam has recently begun establishing a presence in other refugee camps in Beirut and south Lebanon. Mohammed and other supporters of the group in Tripoli said that Fatah al-Islam's goal is to become the dominant Palestinian faction in Lebanon. Islamist sources in Tripoli said that Fatah al-Islam is being funded by Salafist supporters in the city, which allows them to win popularity in the refugee camps by providing social services. The crackdown on Fatah al-Islam, they say, is part of a broader attempt by the U.S.-backed Lebanese government to quell any sign...
...They have proved a tenacious foe. In Sunday's street battles, several of the well-armed militants holed up in residential buildings in the Zaharieh district of central Tripoli firing machine guns and hurling grenades at Lebanese soldiers who sought cover behind armored personnel carriers on the street below. Soldiers battered the cramped apartment buildings with rifle and heavy machine gun fire, ripping chunks of masonry from the walls and filling the air with dust and acrid gun smoke. It was not until early evening that the army managed to kill the last of the militants...