20706

Asbat al-Ansar, Osbat al-Ansar, Usbat al-Ansar

Asbat al-Ansar has never clearly stated its political objectives. Nevertheless, according to a 2005 Australian National Security Report , as well as the US Country Report on Terrorism 2005 , the group's objective is the establishment of a radical Sunni Islamic state in Lebanon. This entails overthrowing the Lebanese government and preventing what they perceive as anti-Sunni Islamic influences in Lebanon, including pro-Western influences. Indeed, during the mid-1990s, Asbat al-Ansar focused on imposing a 'pure' form of Islamic lifestyle within the Ein al-Hilweh refugee camp, hence, citizens and soft targets deemed un-Islamic were attacked. These included bombings of several nightclubs and liquor stores as well as assassinations of rival Lebanese religious leaders and political figures in the mid-1990s. Despite this assessment, it seems Asbat al-Ansar has a broader objective of assisting in the establishment of an Islamic Caliphate. Since 2005, the group has been sending members to Iraq to assist Tanzim Qaidat fi Bilad al-Rafidayn in their attacks against the Iraqi government, the Shiites and the Coalition Forces. This is especially evident from the group's March 2006 statement released by its media wing, and titled "Asbat al-Ansar Fighters from South Lebanon killed during recent Al Qaeda operation in Iraq". In the article, Asbat al-Ansar fighters who had died in Iraq were glorified as Martyrs and examples to be followed . Asbat al-Ansar's more international agenda was suggested in 2000 when Ahmad Raja Abu Kharrub (alias Abu Ubeida), a member of Asbat al-Ansar claimed to be a 'martyr for Grozny" and launched a rocket-propelled grenade attack against the Russian embassy in Beirut. The attack killed one Lebanese police and wounded 7 others. Lastly, at the local level, the group continues to fight for dominance over other rival Palestinian and Islamist groups, especially Fatah in the refugee camp. Fire fights will erupt periodically between the two parties. During the late 1990s, Asbat al-Ansar also assassinated some Fatah members, including Ghazi Adwan, a high-ranking official of Yasser Arafat's Fatah party who was assassinated in April 1998 and Fatah official Amin Kayed and his wife who were killed in a drive-by shooting in Ein al-Hilweh in May 1999. Fatah official Jamal Dayekh was also targeted in May 1999 in a booby-trapped car explosion. He survived, but lost both his legs . In sum, Asbat al-Ansar's political objectives should be understood on the three levels of local, national and trans-national objectives. Its local objective is to maintain control of its part of the Ein al-Hilweh camp, its national agenda is to overthrow the Palestinian Government, and its trans-national agenda is to establish a transnational Islamic Caliphate, which includes overthrowing the Lebanese government.