Young Palestinian Refugees Join Jihadists Fighting in
Syria
In Lebanese Camps,
Disaffected Hope War Against Assad Regime Will Give Them a Sense of Purpose
By
MARIA ABI-HABIB
Nov. 20, 2013 7:23 p.m. ET
Palestinian Munir el
Makdah is flanked by bodyguards as he stands in front of a hospital at the Ain
el-Hilweh refugee camp last month. Dalia Khamissy for The Wall Street Journal
AIN EL-HILWEH REFUGEE
CAMP—Inside Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp, disaffected and
unemployed youth are increasingly joining radical Islamist groups fighting in
Syria, saying it gives their lives a sense of purpose.
The growing hold of
the jihadists is evident on the street at the camp's entrance, lined with flags
of al Qaeda-linked groups that operate in Lebanon or Syria. Homes on Tawareq
Street are pockmarked by bullets and rocket-propelled grenades—scars of recent
fighting between Islamist militants and the Lebanese army.
The camp's ties to
jihadist groups fighting in Syria came into sharp relief on Tuesday. The head
of the group that claimed responsibility for the bombing that killed 25 people
outside Iran's Embassy in Beirut lived in the camp for a time and the brigade
operated openly there. The group linked the bombing to the conflict in Syria.
Related
The youth of Ain
el-Hilweh, Lebanon's most radicalized camp, have largely given up hope of a
Palestinian state that they can return to someday. With unemployment at about
80% here, some say they are drawn to fight with Islamists trying to topple the
Syrian regime.
With the West
Bank-based Palestinian Authority weakened by corruption and mismanagement, a
leadership vacuum in the camp is increasingly being filled by the Islamist
militants.
Munir el Makdah, camp
leader of the Fatah faction that represents the Palestinian Authority, said he
is powerless to stop the better-funded extremist groups from luring youth here.
Even his own 18-year-old son Hussein tried to sneak across the border to fight
in Syria with four friends in August.
But they were caught
by Hezbollah, the powerful Lebanese Shiite militant group that is allied with
the Syrian regime and handed them over to the Lebanese army.
"In my day, it
was about resisting Israel, none of this religious fight," said Mr. el
Makdah. "Fatah has lost the majority of control over the camps because we
can't provide anymore," he added.
"The new
generation have to occupy themselves with something and they're going either
into drugs or Islamic radicalism.…The Islamic groups are much more organized
and have much more money."
Posters of fighters
sporting handlebar mustaches, shaggy haircuts and aviator sunglasses, popular
with mostly secular militants during Lebanon's civil war, have been replaced
with images of men with long beards and white robes with Islamic texts in the
backdrop.
They stand as a
testament to the growing radicalization throughout the region, which the Syrian
civil war has fueled.
"We are putting
up the flags of al Qaeda ourselves," said Ahmed Abdullah, 18, who dropped
out of school when he was nine and is jobless like the vast majority of Ain
el-Hilweh's residents.
Mr. Abdullah sat in a
carpentry shop on Tawareq Street with two friends who had both fought in Syria
with Islamist groups. He said he wants to fight in Syria, but hasn't yet,
worried that Lebanese forces or the Syrian regime will capture him crossing the
border.
"I went with my
brother," said Mahmoud, 21, a handyman. "We fought with Jabhat al
Nusra," he said, referring to one of the strongest Islamist groups
fighting in Syria.
"But there were
so many of us and not enough weapons," he added. "All of us want to
get to Syria to fight. They are Muslims there like us."
The ties between the
Syrian war, Lebanon and the Palestinian camps came into clearer focus in the
Iranian Embassy bombing.
The al Qaeda-linked
Abdullah Azzam Brigades claimed responsibility, demanding the withdrawal of
Hezbollah and Shiite fighters from Syria.
The leader of the
group, Saudi national Majed Bin-Mohammed al-Majed, lived in Ain el-Hilweh for a
time, though Lebanese authorities believe he may be fighting in Syria now. He
is on Saudi Arabia's most-wanted terrorist list for his alleged ties to al
Qaeda.
The poverty and
lawlessness in Lebanon's 12 Palestinian camps with some 450,000 refugees are
providing extremists with the cover they need to bolster their ranks and
recruit for Syria's war, a magnet for the region's jihadists.
Under a decades-old
agreement, the Lebanese army is barred from patrolling the camps, making them
prime spots for militants to shelter, Lebanese officials lament.
Flush with donations
from citizens in the oil-rich Gulf, Lebanese officials say extremist groups
here are aggressively bolstering their ranks by seizing on the Palestinian
Authority's governance failures and a frustrated refugee population.
Lebanon is one of the
few countries in the region that hasn't given its Palestinian refugees
citizenship while barring them most employment.
"There is no
future in the camps. We have God and UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Work
Agency), and look at what they've done," Ahmed Moussa said spitefully,
referring to the U.N. agency that aids Palestinian refugees.
Mr. Moussa said
several friends and relatives had fought in Syria.
"From every
street, there are five or six men who've fought."
Ain el-Hilweh was
supposed to be a temporary settlement for some of the 700,000 Palestinians that
fled or were forced out of their homes during the 1948 war surrounding the
establishment of the state of Israel.
Instead the camp,
whose name means 'sweet spring,' has become a reluctant home, tents giving way
to houses stacked on top of each other over the decades.
The camp—Lebanon's
largest—now houses some 80,000 refugees in an area not even a mile wide. It
abuts the southern city of Sidon, Lebanon's third largest, which also suffers
from poverty.
Tawareq, which means
'emergency' in Arabic, hosts militant groups such as Jund al Sham—one of the
most powerful Islamist group in the camp and biggest recruiter of jihadists
fighting in Syria. The street is absent of men during the day. Women say their
husbands and sons won't venture out in the daytime, worried about snipers or assassination
by their secular rivals in the Palestinian Authority.
Tensions between
Fatah's mostly secular fighters and the mushrooming Islamist militants in the
camp boiled over late last month in a spate of assassinations. Fatah fighters
are trying to curb the influence of militants such as Jund al Sham, officials
say.
In October, Fatah's
Mussad Hujeir, in charge of camp security, was gunned down a few days after an
assassination attempt on a Jund al Sham leader. A Western official said
assassinations have accelerated, though many aren't disclosed publicly.
Palestinian leaders
such as Mr. el Makdah worry that the rise of Islamist militants will bring a
crushing response from the Lebanese state. Fresh on their minds is the battle
between Fatah al Islam—another al Qaeda spinoff group—and the Lebanese security
forces in 2007. Fatah al Islam attacked the army from Nahr al Bared Palestinian
camp, just outside the northern city of Tripoli.
The three-month siege
killed 168 soldiers, 52 civilians and 226 militants. The army had to raze the
camp to defeat Fatah al Islam, making the Palestinians there refugees once
again.
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