Qaida Behind Rocket Attacks on Israel
Al-Qaida propagandist Assad al-Jihad said the group "is not new in the region."
Al-Jihad said in a 104-page report, excerpts of which were published Friday by daily Al-Akhbar, that Qaida members in Lebanon have a Shoura Council and a legitimate body, in addition to a leadership and field commanders "with experience in world battlegrounds and its various fronts."
Jihad said Qaida was behind the rocket attacks from southern Lebanon into Israel during the war on Gaza.
"Those who fired rockets on Israel during the war on Gaza are heroes who participated in the first and second battle of Fallujah," Jihad wrote.
"They are close comrades of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi," he added.
Jihad said Qaida-Damascus branch was also responsible for the rocket fire from Lebanon into northern Israel on June 17, 2007 and in January 2008.
He said the same group was also behind the eight rockets found on Dec. 25, 2008 in southern Lebanon.
On Shaker al-Abssi, Jihad said the former Fatah al-Islam leader had been arrested in the Damascus rural neighborhood of Mliha in cooperation with Sheikh Hashem Minkara.