Asbat al-Ansar

2/15/2007

Asbat al-Ansar (Band of Helpers) is a Sunni fundamentalist Islamic group in Lebanon, chiefly composed of Palestinian refugees. It is based in the Ayn al-Hilwah refugee camp near the Israeli border. Asbat al-Ansar has links with Hamas and receives financial aid from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, Syria, Israel, and Jordan remain havens for Islamic terrorist groups. While the Hamas, Hezballah, Islamic Jihad, and Fatah/PLO organizations dominate the region, smaller, boutique firms such as Asbat al-Ansar, draw membership from individuals ill at ease in the larger outfits.

Asbat al-Ansar, like Hamas, bases its religious ideology on Salafism. These Muslims are thus fundamentalists who believe in an accurate and pure interpretation of the Qur'an and Hadith. They are committed to following Muhammad's example and to heeding his words. These things make them virulently opposed to Israel, non-Muslims in the West, Christians and Druze in Lebanon, and of course Shia Muslims. Either delusional or unable to count, the Sunni group has sought to set up a Sunni Islamic state in Lebanon - a place where Shias and Hizballah dominate.

Allah's Band of Helpers was formed in the late 1980s by Sheikh Hisham Shreidi, a Palestinian refugee and Islamic cleric. Shreidi was killed in 1991 by Yasser Arafat's al-Fatah organization. After the imam's death, Asbat al-Ansar split in to three factions, Asbat al-Nour, Jama'at al-Nour, and Jund as-Sham. Asbat al-Nour was founded by Hisham's eldest son Abdullah (meaning Slave-to-Allah) in a dispute over control with Ahmad Abd al-Karim al-Saadi. Saadi, also known as Abu Mohjen, had been Sheikh Hisham Shreidi's senior militant commander.

Abdullah and his younger brother Muhammad, who founded another splinter group, were killed by the PLO's al-Fatah gunmen in 2003 and 2004 respectively. Down a pair of jihadists, Asbat al-Nour rejoined Asbat al-Ansar. The other faction, Jund as-Sham, was then incorporated into Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's Tawhid and Jihad (Monotheism and Holy War) network.

In this version of musical chairs with assault rifles, some reports have this faction at odds with the other two other Asbat al-Ansar derivatives. But only Allah knows. And since Abu Mohjen was named a top deputy by al-Zarqawi when he moved into Iraq to kill Americans, any disputes between the factions of Asbat al-Ansar are minor.

While Abu Mohjen has been sentenced to death in absentia on several occasions by the Lebanese government, he is still out killing. Most believe that he is currently in Iraq hunting infidels.

In its early stages, Asbat al-Ansar was responsible for attacks on soft targets such as social clubs, liquor stores, and movie theaters. These institutions violated the Islamic moral code while killing and arson did not. These fundamentalist Muslims were also keen on assassinating rival militant and religious leaders, including Sunnis who they deemed to be too moderate.

In the late 1990s, buoyed by funding from Pakistan, the group began attacking less vulnerable targets. For example, Asbat al-Ansar killed four Lebanese judges in 1999. They launched a rocket attack on the Russian Embassy in Lebanon in January 2000, apparently to express solidarity with Chechen Muslims. Allah's Band of Helpers were also thwarted in several attempts to assassinate the American Ambassador in Lebanon. Over the years they assaulted the Italian Embassy, the Ukrainian Consulate General, and Lebanese government offices.

Asbat al-Ansar organized a coup attempt in 2000 which was carried out in conjunction with one of its allies, Tafkir wa Hijra, another Salafi Sunni terrorist group in the region. In the past few years, Asbat al-Ansar has been tied to a number of bombings at fast food restaurants in Lebanon. And they have been embroiled in an ongoing battle with al-Fatah to control ‘Ayn al-Hilwah, a civil war of sorts which has cost many lives. Collectively, their attacks left scores of people dead, including Lebanese soldiers and civilians.

Although Asbat al-Ansar is still dedicated to its goal of using force to establish a Sunni Islamic state in Lebanon, Allah's Band of Helpers has non embraced the pan-Islamic ideals of world domination. They are beginning extend their terrorist operations beyond Lebanon into Syria, Israel, Jordan, and Iraq.

Sheikh Hisham Shreidi, a Palestinian Muslim, was the founder of Asbat al-Ansar. He had lived in the ‘Ayn al-Hilwah refugee camp in southern Lebanon. During Lebanon's Civil War, Sheikh Shreidi became the spiritual leader of the Islamic Association, a Sunni fundamentalist group. But in 1986 he was expelled for his alleged ties to Iran - a Shia fiefdom. He formed Allah's Band of Helpers shortly thereafter. But what is known is that in 1990 Asbat al-Ansar supported a failed uprising against al-Fatah, the dominant Muslim militia in the ‘Ayn al-Hilwah refugee camp. This revolt placed Asbat al-Ansar at odds with the PLO.

So in December 1991, Shreidi was murdered by al-Fatah gunmen inside his mosque. After Sheikh Shreidi's sons met a similar fate, undisputed control of Allah's Band of Helpers went to Ahmad Abd al-Karim al-Saadi (Abu Mohjen), better known as Abu Mohjen. Today, he is probably the leader of Tawhid and Jihad in Iraq due to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's untimely demise at the hands of the American Air Force. Following Sheikh Hisham Shreidi's death, Abu Mohjen transformed Allah's Band of Helpers from a Palestinian-Lebanese terrorist group into a more international outfit.