Dinniyeh Group

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The Dinniyeh Group was a group of 200-300 Islamist militants led by Bassam Ahmad Kanj . In January of 2000 The Dinniyeh Group launched a failed attempt to create an Islamist mini-state in northern Lebanon.^[1] The militants seized control of dozens of villages in the mountainous Dinniyeh district, east of Tripoli before being defeated by a force of 13,000 Lebanese soldiers in several days of intense combat.^[2] After the fighting members of The Dinniyeh Group who were not killed or captured fled to Ain al-Hilweh. According to court documents from judicial proceedings against captured members, the group had received financial support from associates of Osama bin Laden through bank accounts in Beirut and north Lebanon.^[3] In 2005, members of the group were released by a parliamentary resolution after the 2005 elections which also pardoned Samir Geagea. The deal, practically, had been to release Sunni terrorists to appease Saad Hariri, and a Maronite war criminal to appease his Christian allies, the Lebanese Forces.

[edit] References

1. ^ Ain al-Hilweh: Lebanon's "Zone of Unlaw" (June 2003)
2. ^ Ain al-Hilweh: Lebanon's "Zone of Unlaw" (June 2003)
3. ^ Ain al-Hilweh: Lebanon's "Zone of Unlaw" (June 2003)