Syrians Try to Link Hariri Movement to Radical Islamists

Syrian media outlets have alleged that the Future Movement in Lebanon backed the radical Fatah al-Islam group, after purported members appeared on television to claim responsibility for a car bomb in Damascus that left 17 people dead two months ago.



In a November 6 broadcast on Syrian TV, 11 alleged Fatah al-Islam members said they had received money from Lebanese politician’s Saad Hariri’s Future Movement.



They admitted that the group was behind the bombing on September 27 near a security office in Damascus.



The one woman included in the group was identified as Wafa, daughter of Fatah al-Islam leader Shaker al-Abssi. She said the group received financial backing from the Future Movement and Saudi members of Fatah al-Islam.



The Future Movement has a strained relationship with Damascus. Hariri has denied supporting Fatah al-Islam.



Fatah al-Islam is a radical Sunni group that hit the headlines when it clashed with the Lebanese army last year at Nahr al-Bared, a Palestinian refugee camp near Tripoli.



The day after the apparent confessions were aired, the pro-government newspaper Al-Watan cited an unnamed high-level political source in Syria as saying the revelations should prompt an investigation into the clashes at Nahr al-Bared. The source claimed that a member of the Lebanese security forces killed some of his own men to cover up the relationship between Fatah al-Islam and the Future Movement.



On November 11, the pro-government TV station Al-Dunia reported that the Future Movement had questioned the truth of the confessions. But it suggested that the movement’s delayed response indicated that it had been thrown into a state of confusion.



Al-Dunia asserted that Hariri – who has asked the Arab League to investigate the television confessions – wants Saudi Arabia to exert influence on the investigative commission so as to exonerate him.