In
Syria's List
of 108 Foreign
Fighters,
Traffic in
Arms &
People, Al
Qaeda
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 20 --
Syria on
October 19
turned in to
the UN
Security
Council a list
of "108
foreign
nationals who
were
arrested by
the Syrian
authorities"
on charges of
terrorism.
Inner City
Press on
October 19
obtained the
October 19
cover letter
and list, and
put
them
online here.
The
list includes
20 from
Lebanon, a
dozen Iraqis,
44 Tunisians,
nine
Jordanians and
nine
Palestinians;
the rest are
Libyans,
Syrians or of
dual
nationality.
There
are
allegations of
bomb-making,
erecting false
police
roadblocks,
and
kidnap for
ransom. The
finger is also
pointed at the
"An-Nahda
Salafist
party" in
Egypt as being
built up by Al
Qaeda.
A
sample, 33rd
out of the
108: Mohamed
Houssine
Faress --
"joined
armed group"
and
contributed
weapons -- and
fighter and
journalist --
trafficking
from Lebanon.
Alleged
kidnapper.
Back
in
May,
Syria turned
in a list of
26 foreign
fighters,
on which Inner
City Press
also first
reported.
Since
then,
the Security
Council has
had much to
say about
terrorism, and
armed groups
with external
support, most
recently in a
Friday
afternoon,
French-drafted
Presidential
Statement
condemning any
outside
support to an
armed group -
M23 - in the
Democratic
Republic
of the Congo.
In
that
conflict, the
UN and its
Group of
Experts make
much of
uniforms
and contested
ID cards which
they say prove
the
foreignness or
outside
support of
armed groups.
So how does
the Council
respond to a
list such as
Syria has
submitted?
Watch this
site.
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