Awad Still in Ain el-Hilweh, Refuses to Surrender for Fear of Exposing Qaida
Fatah al-Islam”s new leader Abdul Rahman Awad is reportedly still hiding inside the sprawling refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh near the southern port city of Sidon and refuses to surrender.
The daily As Safir, citing well-informed Lebanese security sources, said Monday that Awad still resides in Ain el-Hilweh and that a search is underway to find him.
It said efforts are now focused on taking action against the wanted persons in what it termed a "clean security operation with minimum loss of human lives."
An Nahar newspaper, for its part, said on Monday that Awad refuses to hand himself over to Lebanese authorities, raising fears that this "hot" issue could drag Ain el-Hilweh into inter-Palestinian war.
The daily, which reported a deadlock over the wanted persons” issue, quoted Palestinian sources in Ain el-Hilweh as saying that Awad refuses to surrender for fear of exposing al-Qaida since he is considered a "key witness" in Fatah al-Islam”s dossier.
The sources said Awad has information about al-Qaida and its deployment.
An Nahar said the handover of suspects is likely to open "many dossiers" that could lay a hand on files involving extremist leaders and personalities that took part in supporting Fatah al-Islam activities beside Awad.
It said investigation is also likely to expose "complicated security dossiers," mainly the assassination of the four judges in Sidon, incidents in Dinniyeh up north and the attack against UNIFIL in the south as well as bomb assaults and other assassinations.