Investigations Reveal Hizbullah is Training Yakan Followers
Investigations with 21 alleged followers of Islamic preacher Fathi Yakan have reportedly revealed that the men were recruited by the Islamic Action Front and sent to join a Hizbullah training camp.
Citing Yakan”s party sources, An-Nahar newspaper said Wednesday that the IAF supporters have been sent to join a Hizbullah camp.
The front”s politburo member Jamil Raad has also confirmed that the movement sent several of its partisans to be trained by the Shiite group.
Last Thursday, An-Nahar reported that security officials arrested 21 Yakan followers in Beirut”s southern suburb of Ouzai and released them to join a Hizbullah camp for military training.
Security agents, according to the report, were suspicious about the group of men who started gathering on batches in the seaside Ouzai suburb, a Hizbullah stronghold on Beirut”s southern edge.
They arrested "five batches totaling 21 people" from north Lebanon, the newspaper said.
The suspects reportedly told investigators they were advised to "gather near the Imam Ouzai (Sunni) Mosque before joining a Hizbullah camp to receive combat training."
"Hizbullah intervened, the suspects were released and they joined the Hizbullah training camp," the report added.
It specified that members of the group belong to Yakan.
However, Hizbullah on Sunday said the group of suspects arrested by a "military agency" in Ouzai was not turned over to its officials.
Upon interrogating members of the group "it was found that they were not armed and were not involved in any illegal activity," a Hizbullah statement said.
It said members of the group were "released and not turned over to Hizbullah."
The Army command on Monday also denied reports about arresting armed members of a fundamentalist group in Ouzai.
The statement said an army patrol while performing its duties in Ouzai "searched a number of civilian vehicles driving a number of workers from the north."
It said the patrol did not confiscate weapons or arrest any of the workers because they "did not break any law."