Lebanon sentenced 20 operatives linked to the international al-Qaeda terrorist organization to prison terms of up to 15 years each for terror-related activities, according to a source in the Lebanese court system.
Among those convicted on Tuesday were a number of Palestinian Authority Arabs.
The operatives were sentenced on charges of “belonging to al-Qaeda; forming an armed gang with the goal of attacking civilians and undermining the state and its authority; attempting to execute terrorist attacks; forging official documents, and transferring arms and wireless devices."
Judge Nizar Khalil sentenced seven of the defendants, including Palestinian Authority Arabs and Syrian nationals, in absentia. They received prison terms of 15 years each.
A separate group of 13, including Palestinian Authority Arabs and Lebanese, Syrian and Saudi Arabian nationals, received sentences ranging from two to ten years. The second group, which was being held in custody, had also been questioned by United Nations personnel investigating the 2005 assassination in Beirut of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Threatening Southern Israel
Al-Qaeda-linked Palestinian Authority terrorist groups are also posing an increasing threat to Israel’s south. The Hamas terrorist organization is being faced with increasing challenges to its authority over Gaza by the Army of Islam, for example, led by the local Doghmush clan, which is linked to al-Qaeda. A second group linked to al-Qaeda, the Jund Ansar Allah, is ideologically affiliated with the Global Jihad movement and reportedly is attracting thousands of young men in the region. However, as PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas pointed out in a newspaper interview more than two years ago, “the Hamas movement brought al-Qaeda.”