How Syria Deceives the Press on Fatah al-Islam
Syria’s imprisonment of Fatah al-Islam leader Shaker Al-Absi was a “joke”
Fatah al-Islam, the terror group which has brought death and destruction to a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, has been making major headlines, not all of them based on sound information. “Most journalists identify this group with al-Qaida or are just plain confused as to its identity,” notes Barry Rubin, who documents that the shadowy group is a surrogate of Syria:
In fact, what is happening is a major deception operation by Syria, a rather typical case of how radical forces in the region fool the West, score against their adversaries, and avoid any retaliation for their deeds. . .
Syrian officials have been briefing some Western journalists, who know no Arabic and have no serious background in studying the Middle East. They tell these people that Fatah al-Islam is a front for Lebanon’s government and even the United States. There is no evidence that this is true. What is telling is that the articles published use precisely the same phrases employed by Syrian officials about 48 hours earlier.
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