Lebanese militants cheered on al Qaeda Web sites

LONDON, May 26 (Reuters) Islamist radicals have whipped up a vociferous Internet campaign in support of militant group Fatah al-Islam as it battles the Lebanese army, but al Qaeda's leadership has yet to grant the faction its official blessing.

The US-based SITE Institute, which monitors jihadist Web sites, reports a flood of support for Fatah al-Islam from members of Internet forums affiliated to al Qaeda since fighting broke out last Sunday.

A user of the al-Hesbah network, one of the main password-protected forums linked to Osama bin Laden's movement, expressed the hope that Lebanese owns would be turned into battlefields like those of the Iraqi insurgency.

''Allah willing, Tripoli is al-Ramadi, El Mina is al-Falluja, Beirut is Baghdad, and Lebanon is Iraq. We ask Allah for victory,'' said the contributor, identified as Khattabt0.

On another network, al-Nusra, user Ma'askertTadrib posted a series of photographs of ''the Lions of Fatah al-Islam'' fighting Lebanese troops this week at Nahr al-Bared, a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon.

Pictures of the Lebanese soldiers were accompanied by mocking captions such as ''Cowards'', ''Haha, that is how they fire bullets'' and ''To hell and what a bad fate'', according to translations by SITE.

NEW AL QAEDA FRONT? The worst internal fighting in Lebanon since its 1975-90 civil war has prompted some security analysts to warn of the opening of a new al Qaeda front in the country.

But the extent of any ties between Fatah al-Islam and al Qaeda is unproven. Fatah al-Islam denies any organisation links, despite sharing al Qaeda's goal of fighting ''infidels''.

The Lebanese government calls Fatah al-Islam a terrorist group and anti-Syrian Lebanese leaders have linked it to Syrian intelligence, although this is rejected by the group and by Damascus. Lebanese authorities say they have arrested Saudi, Algerian, Tunisian, Syrian and Lebanese members of the group.

''It is too early to tell if this group is an official new arm of al Qaeda in Lebanon,'' Rita Katz, head of the SITE institute, told Reuters.

She said Jihadists' enthusiasm for Fatah al-Islam on the al Qaeda-linked Web sites reflected their desire to open a new Sunni militant front in Lebanon to challenge the dominant Shi'ite Hezbollah.

Katz said the faction had received both moral and logistical support from the jihadist community, which exploits the Internet intensively as a propaganda tool. Several jihadists with media skills, including a Saudi Web master, had volunteered their services to the group.

Since Israel fought a war with Lebanese-based Hezbollah last summer, al Qaeda has made no secret of its desire to exploit the country's turmoil.

Its number two Ayman al-Zawahri last year urged Muslims to ''fight and become martyrs'' in response to the Israel-Hezbollah conflict and condemned United Nations forces in Lebanon as ''enemies of Islam''.

Katz said that, given al Qaeda's record of trying to exploit exploit conflicts from Iraq to Indonesia, bin Laden or Zawahri may issue a call at some point for Muslims to support the mujahideen fighters in Lebanon.

But she said any group hoping to become an official branch of al Qaeda such as those now operating in Iraq and North Africa must first pledge its allegiance and obtain bin Laden's backing.

That would not happen until al Qaeda was certain the group would adhere to its principles.

''If al Qaeda prematurely offered its support to Fatah al-Islam and the latter suddenly changed its ideology or acted in a way contrary to al Qaeda, the leadership would likely be embarrassed,'' Katz said.

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