The leader of Fatah al-Islam has threatened Britons with “destruction through resistance and attacks” for their government’s policies in the Middle East.
In a recent interview with The Sunday Times, Shakir al-Abssi, whose militant group is locked in a battle with the Lebanese army, said: “I advise the British people to cease their destructive policies in the Islamic world and to take an example of the fate of the United States, which is on its way to destruction.
“We tell the British people to exercise pressure on their government not to continue to be the arm and tail of the United States. They must understand that it is in their interest to ensure that unless we as a people are safe, they cannot be safe as a people themselves.”
The radicalism of Abssi and his group was evident as soon as I arrived at the Nahr al-Bared camp several weeks ago accompanied by a woman photographer. Though we were both wearing scarves, Abssi’s men told us we were not dressed appropriately and we were kept in an office while they decided how to deal with us.
Several Kalashnikovs hung on the door; rocket-launchers leant against the wall, which was plastered with maps of Palestine. His followers had a distinctive appearance: with long hair and beards, most wore headscarves, some wrapped in a style notable among the fighters of Falluja in Iraq. They moved around heavily armed with Kalashnikovs and M16 rifles.
After several arguments and attempts to drive us out of the camp, we were escorted to another of Abssi’s bases inside Nahr al-Bared.
Abssi was refusing to meet us in person, apparently because we were women and it would contradict his Islamic teachings.
We were forced to remain in the vehicle while his spokesman Abu Salim came to see us instead.
He brought along a young man, introduced to us as Abssi’s adviser on sharia (Islamic law), who lectured us at length, in a Saudi accent, on why it was prohibited for us as women to meet Abssi. After nearly two hours, we finally struck a deal. I could interview Abssi - but only over the telephone.
During the interview Abssi blamed Britain for most of the ills of the Middle East.
“The British are the primary cause of the Middle East problems and they should be correcting their errors in the region and returning the rights of the people they erred against instead of blindly following the policies of the Americans,” he said.
“Is it just that we should accept their slaughtering of us and our people, and do nothing for fear of being labelled terrorists?” He spoke calmly, with none of the ranting of some jihadists, but it was clear he believed attacks against the United States and Britain would be justified.
“The crime is for them [Britons] to follow the Americans in their policies. If they want to be safe, especially since they are the principal culprits in the region, then they should now start supporting and backing the oppressed people,” he said.
He argued that both the US and Britain had preached democracy in the Middle East, but failed to recognise the democratically elected Palestinian government on the grounds that it was Islamist.
“How can we swallow this or even accept it? So yes, we do not denounce attacks against the United States. Under what logic should we, given what it is doing in Palestine and the region?” he said.
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