DEBKAfile Exclusive Report December 12, 2008, 11:56 AM (GMT+02:00) UNIFIL tank drives by Ain Hilwe Early Thursday, Dec. 11, the UN peacekeeping force's South Lebanon command declared the Palestinian Ain Hilwe camp near Sidon a no-go zone for the force's convoys for fear of attacks by al Qaeda. Supply convoys using the main coastal road from Beirut to Sidon were restricted to travel by night between 3 and 5 a.m., under armored vehicle escort. The day before the al Qaeda alert, Dell Dailey, counter-terrorist operations director at the US State Department, reported that al Qaeda had responded to heavy US military in Iraq by shifting some of its fighting strength to Lebanon, though not in large numbers. He spoke during a visit Beirut. DEBKAfile's military sources report that this strength has split between two Palestinian camps: Ain Hilwa and Nahr al-Barad near the northern town of Tripoli. US intelligence expects them to focus on four targets: 1. One group will attempt cross-border strikes in northern Israel. A second has managed to infiltrate the Gaza Strip after landing in Egyptian Sinai by sea. 2. United Nations peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, who have been put on terror alert. 3. US installations and premises in Lebanon as well as Sixth Fleet vessels opposite its shores. 4. Pro-Western politicians in Lebanon. According to our counter-terror sources, the al Qaeda cell in the north is keeping its head down. However, They are confident enough to strut around the camp fully armed. Acting on a request from Washington, Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas this week replaced the Fatah commanders who admitted al Qaeda to Ain Hilwe and collaborated with the newcomers. Shots were later heard from the camp. One of the functions of the undercover US mission recently established in Beirut – and revealed exclusively by DEBKAfile – is to liaise with the Lebanese army in operations against al Qaeda, as well as guarding the Lebanese government against a Syrian or Hizballah takeover. Washington does not rule out the possibility of al Qaeda building a new stronghold in the country for a broad new offensive in Lebanon and against Israel. DEBKAfile Special Report December 11, 2008, 11:43 AM (GMT+02:00) ISI coat of arms Speaking in parliament Thursday, Dec. 11, Indian home minister Palaniappan Chidambaram announced measures to fix the intelligence lapses and "logistical weakness" which were exposed by the Islamist terrorist siege of Mumbai which cost 172 lives. He promised wide-reaching reforms of security laws and the national terror preventive infrastructure, including 20 new counter-insurgency schools for training commandoes. "We cannot go back to business as usual," said the minister. "The finger of suspicion points unmistakably to the territory of our neighbor Pakistan." South Asia stood "in the eye of a storm of terror." The sole surviving terrorist of the bloody attack was remanded in custody Thursday and accused of making war on India. DEBKAfile's counter-terror sources point to preparations in New Delhi for a military response to the Mumbai attack, which is expected to come in the form of targeted cross-border raids on terrorist targets. Indian officials have confirmed that that the ten terrorists accounted for, all from Pakistani Punjab, were only part of a 30-member team. Twenty are missing and India is therefore geared for more Islamist terrorist attacks. The counter-terror center in Jerusalem Thursday repeated its strong warning to Israelis to stay clear of Goa over the December-January holiday season, where Westerners, including Americans and Europeans, may be targeted for another Islamist assault, possibly by the missing terrorists. Our New Delhi sources attach low credibility to Islamabad's raids of Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist bases and arrests. For one thing, Islamabad refuses to turn over suspected ringleaders of the Mumbai outrage to India or allow Indian investigators to question him. For another, Western as well as Indian counter-terror sources hold that Lashkar e-Taiba was only one part of the Mumbai conspiracy. They point at a coalition led by the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Taliban, elements of al Qaeda and other radical Islamic groups. Without ISI's tactical and logistical organization, a terrorist attack on the Mumbai scale would have been inconceivable.
Al Qaeda operatives relocated from Iraq to Lebanon. UNIFIL, northern Israel on terror alert
South Asia stands "in the eye of a storm of terror" – Indian home minister
Friday, 12 December 2008
Posts
