US labels Fatah al-Islam terror group

Washington has designated Fatah al-Islam, an Islamist militant organisation blamed for major fighting at a refugee camp in Lebanon, as a "terrorist" group, the State Department said Monday.
"As part of ongoing US efforts against terrorism," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has named "Fatah al-Islam as a specially designated global terrorist" group under US law, the department said in a statement.
Rice took the action, which cuts off the al Qaeda-inspired group from the US financial system, in consultation with the US attorney general and the treasury secretary, the statement said.
Fatah al-Islam, an offshoot of the Syria-backed secular Palestinian militant group Fatah al-Intifada, initiated hostilities in the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp near Tripoli, Lebanon, with an "unprovoked attack" on Lebanese security forces in May, according to the statement.
The group, it said, had used civilian refugees as "human shields" during the fighting in the Palestinian refugee camp, which has entered its 12th week and left more than 200 people dead, including 136 soldiers.
It is the worst internal violence since the end of Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war and has had severe repercussions across Lebanon, including nation-wide power cuts as a key electricity transmitting station remains out of action after being struck by rockets launched by the Islamists on August 2.
"This terrorist group threatens the safety and security of the Lebanese people and the region," the State Department said. Fatah al-Islam has been led by Shakir al-Absi, a well-known Palestinian-Jordanian militant who was sentenced to death in absentia in Jordan for his involvement in the 2002 murder of a US diplomat.
Lebanese security officials allege that Fatah al-Islam is a part of Syrian intelligence security outfit. But US arch enemy Syria denies any link to Fatah al-Islam.
Officials in Lebanon from Fatah, the party of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, said last year that Fatah al-Islam had infiltrated the country via the bases of pro-Syrian groups. "The United States calls on governments across the world to take action to isolate these terrorist organisations, to choke off their sources of financial support, and to prevent their members' movement across international borders," the State Department said.
It added that the United States supported the Lebanese government and its security forces in their efforts to promote stability and rule of law throughout the country.
Lebanon's political scene has witnessed sharp disputes since last year's war with Israel, with parliament paralysed for nearly nine months because of a deadlock between the Western-backed government and the opposition led by the Shia fundamentalist movement.