February 11, 2008, 2:11 PM (GMT+02:00)
Just in time for President Bush’s first – and last - Middle East tour, al Qaeda’s new operational arm, Fatah al-Islam, completed its redeployment from Lebanon on two warfronts: Iraq and the Gaza Strip. Al Qaeda has managed to pull together two fronts for twin campaigns orchestrated by a single commander, Fatah al-Islam’s Palestinian chief Shaker al-Abessi, from his new base in Iraq.

Fatah al-Islam under Abessi’s command pinned the Lebanese army down at the northern Nahar al-Badr camp for four months in the summer of 2007 before being driven out.

With his top command, Abessi was able to access Iraq from Syria in the last month by transiting a purportedly sealed border. According to our sources, the Palestinian-led terrorist force has reached North Iraq and is taking reinforcements from Lebanon and Syria preparatory to joining the main al Qaeda body fighting US and Iraqi forces in other parts of the country.

Al Qaeda established its firs foothold in the Gaza Strip in 2005. Israel must have been the only country in the world which did nothing to nip in the bud the buildup of a dangerous terrorist base along its borders. Today, the Olmert government continues to bury its head in the sand as the terrorist bases go up armed with full-blown military capabilities.

In the past week, the hodge-podge of extremist Palestinian organizations in Gaza fired 32 missiles into Israel and their first 122mm Katyusha rocket against Ashkelon, a major Israeli city. They pose an unarguable strategic threat to Israel’s southern half as great as the hazard Hizballah presents to the North.

http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=1327