June02-2007
Fatah al-Islam's Plot: 9/11-Style Lebanon Attack
Retrieved from Naharnet on June 3, 2007
An Nahar newspaper said Sunday that Fatah al-Islam militants, whose fighters are besieged at the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp, were planning a September 11-style attack on Lebanon.
It said interrogation of arrested fighters revealed that the attacks on a hotel, embassies and tunnels would have caused destruction similar to the 9/11 attacks in the United States.
"Fatah al-Islam planned to attack a large hotel in the capital using four suicide truck bombs at the same time as launching suicide attacks on embassies in east and west Beirut," the paper said.
The planned attacks' explosives, that have made their way from Syria, were seized in a weapons depot in the northern port city of Tripoli, the daily said.
An Nahar also said the group "planned to launch attacks on the Shekka tunnel linking Beirut to Tripoli with the aim of cutting off the north and proclaiming an Islamic state there."
The Lebanese army is locked in deadly battles with the militants since May 20. But fighting intensified on Friday when the military made a push against Fatah al-Islam which has vowed to fight to death inside Nahr al-Bared.
White smoke rose from the camp Sunday as the Lebanese army resumed its bombardment of the militants holed up there.(Naharnet-AFP)