North Lebanon fertile ground for Sunni militants

By Tom Perry

TRIPOLI, Lebanon (Reuters) - The challenge Lebanon faces from Sunni Islamist militancy is likely to persist even if the army wins a battle against al Qaeda-inspired fighters in the north of the country, Islamists from the area say.

The Fatah al-Islam militant group is reviled by many Lebanese, but its ideas resonate with hardline Sunni Islamists, raising the possibility of more violence, they say.

Clashes in the south between the army and Jund al-Sham, another Sunni militant group, show that Fatah al-Islam already has sympathizers ready to take up arms in solidarity.

More may be recruited to such groups thanks to the spread of Sunni Islamist thought, especially in and around the northern city of Tripoli, which has long been a cradle for all types of political and militant Sunni Islam.

Fathi Yakan, a prominent Islamist from Tripoli, said hardliners may take up arms against the state "out of fear that their turn will come" after Fatah al-Islam.

"If they find that Fatah al-Islam is in trouble now, then these might act, perhaps they will cooperate with it, or even support it," said Yakan, leader of the Islamic Action Front -- one of the biggest Sunni Islamist groups in Lebanon.

"For this reason, the situation is getting more serious," said Yakan, listing the full range of Sunni Islamist schools of thought in Tripoli. They include the Salafi school that is linked to the Wahhabi beliefs followed by Osama bin Laden.

Salafi Muslims believe they must follow strictly the practices of the Prophet Mohammad and his closest companions.

Aiming to fight the United States and Israel and spread its vision of Islam, Fatah al-Islam does not have a big Lebanese membership, Yakan said.

"But it might have some emotional reach," he said, especially in north Lebanon, which is the heart of conservative Sunni Islam in the country's diverse sectarian map.

HOME-GROWN PROBLEM

Fatah al-Islam is led by a Palestinian but scores of Lebanese fighters have been killed or arrested in the fighting -- Lebanon's bloodiest internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war.

The group, thought to number a few hundred when the fighting began on May 20, has also drawn fighters from Arab countries including Saudi Arabia.

But the Lebanese contingent highlights a home-grown problem, said Tripoli cleric Ibrahim Saleh, drawing parallels between Fatah al-Islam and a previous militant challenge to the state.

In 2000, 40 people were killed in a battle near Tripoli between the Lebanese army and a militant group called Takfir wal Hijrah. "The phenomenon repeats itself," Ibrahim said.