2007年VOA标准英语-Lebanese Army Troops, Islamic Militants Continu

By Margaret Besheer
Beirut
04 June 2007

Continuing clashes between Lebanese army troops and Islamic militants² holed up in a Palestinian refugee camp have sparked concerns the deadly violence may soon spread to more of Lebanon's 12 refugee camps. From Beirut, VOA's Margaret Besheer has this report on the militant¹ group at the center of the crisis.

The first time many Lebanese learned of the existence of Fatah al-Islam was in February, when a twin bus bombing outside Beirut killed three people and injured 20 others. The group was linked to the attack. Then last month, they surfaced again when some of their members were charged with a dramatic bank robbery in the northern port city of Tripoli.

besieged3 Nahr el-Bared refugee camp near the city of Tripoli " hspace="2" src="/upimg/allimg/070608/1440480.jpg" width="210" vspace="2" border="0" />

Shell explodes on a building being used by militants in the besieged Nahr el-Bared refugee camp near the city of Tripoli

An ambush⁴ of Lebanese army positions in Tripoli on May 20 killed more than 30 soldiers and triggered the current fighting. The army has launched a military campaign to force militants holed up inside the Nahr el-Bared Palestinian refugee camp to surrender. But Fatah al-Islam says it will fight to the death.

Paul Salem, Director of the Carnegie Endowment's Middle East Center in Beirut says the group's several hundred fighters came to the Nahr El-Bared camp, near the northern city of Tripoli, over the past year.

"It is not clear who exactly is behind them, and I think that is part of the point," Salem said. "Some of these groups are being set up precisely⁵ to do those things without them being traceable to someone."

But American University of Beirut political science professor Ahmad Moussalli says they are al-Qaida linked.

"I think definitely. Some of them were trained in Afghanistan with al-Qaida, some of them fought in Iraq," he said. "Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the famous - or infamous⁶ - leader of al-Qaida of Iraq, was affiliated⁷ with this group, and he in fact pushed this group to organize itself in Lebanon."

Many theories exist in Lebanon about who is behind Fatah al-Islam. One is that the Future Movement of Saad Hariri, a pro-Western Sunni leader, wanted a Sunni militia⁸ to defend against the growing influence of the Shiite Hezbollah movement following last summer's war between Hezbollah and Israel.

Professor Moussalli agrees with this theory.

"Because of last year's war they [Fatah] were encouraged to create a militia," he said. "They were given arms, support, finance and so forth⁹. So they turned from 19 to 20 people to about 1,000 people in about six months. The government wants to try to distance itself from this phenomenon."

But the Carnegie Endowment's Paul Salem strongly disagrees.

"I think that is way off. I don't think that is the case, particularly in Lebanon. In Lebanon the Hariri government is supporting, and has been in a very strong way, the Sunni mainstream¹⁰, and has moderated the Sunni community tremendously," he said.

Professor Moussalli believes the group is well-financed with money coming from several sources.

"Partly from al-Qaida; partly from Lebanese; partly from Gulf¹¹ states; partly from religious individuals. I don't think they have trouble getting money, obviously," he said.

So what is Fatah al-Islam trying to accomplish?

The experts say chaos¹² and civil war. Carnegie's Paul Salem:

"I think their goal is to hamstring the Lebanese Army, to destabilize the country and to put pressure on the country and through the country the international community," Salem said.

American University of Beirut political science professor Ahmad Moussalli agrees.

"They are working to create confusion, to create problems, to open up venues¹³ for civil war in Lebanon," he said.

Meanwhile, as the standoff with Fatah al-Islam drags into a third week, a second group, Jund al-Sham, have clashed with the Lebanese Army outside the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon.

The clashes at the southern Ein el-Hilweh camp have sparked fears that fighting could spread to some or all of Lebanon's 12 Palestinian refugee camps.

Professor Moussalli says he is not surprised that the violence has spread.

"This was expected. Because Fatah al-Islam is a splinter group that started with Jund al-Sham," he said. "So they are not removed or far away from them ideologically¹⁴; organizationally. Some of the Fatah al-Islam leadership came from Jund al-Sham in Ein al-Hilweh camp."

Professor Moussalli says regional problems - such as the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Iraq war - in addition to internal Lebanese troubles, have allowed such militant groups to take root and flourish in Lebanon.

1 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

2 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

3 besieged   

包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Paris was besieged for four months and forced to surrender. 巴黎被围困了四个月后被迫投降。
• The community besieged the newspaper with letters about its recent editorial. 公众纷纷来信对报社新近发表的社论提出诘问，弄得报社应接不暇。

4 ambush   

n.埋伏(地点)；伏兵；v.埋伏；伏击

参考例句：

• Our soldiers lay in ambush in the jungle for the enemy.我方战士埋伏在丛林中等待敌人。
• Four men led by a sergeant lay in ambush at the crossroads.由一名中士率领的四名士兵埋伏在十字路口。

5 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

6 infamous   

adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的

参考例句：

• He was infamous for his anti-feminist attitudes.他因反对女性主义而声名狼藉。
• I was shocked by her infamous behaviour.她的无耻行径令我震惊。

7 affiliated   

adj. 附属的, 有关连的

参考例句：

• The hospital is affiliated with the local university. 这家医院附属于当地大学。
• All affiliated members can vote. 所有隶属成员都有投票权。

8 militia   

n.民兵，民兵组织

参考例句：

• First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面，其次是民兵。
• There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。

9 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

10 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

11 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

12 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

13 venues   

n.聚集地点( venue的名词复数 )；会场；（尤指）体育比赛场所；犯罪地点

参考例句：

• The band will be playing at 20 different venues on their UK tour. 这个乐队在英国巡回演出期间将在20个不同的地点演出。
• Farmers market corner, 800 meters long, 60 meters wide livestock trading venues. 农牧市场东北角，有长800米，宽60米的牲畜交易场地。 来自互联网

14 ideologically   

adv. 意识形态上地，思想上地

参考例句：

• Ideologically, they have many differences. 在思想意识上，他们之间有许多不同之处。
• He has slipped back ideologically. 他思想退步了。