- Dinniyeh Group
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The Dinniyeh Group was a group of 200-300 Islamist militants led by Bassam Ahmad Kanj. In January 2000 The Dinniyeh Group launched a failed attempt to create an Islamist mini-state in northern Lebanon.[1] The militants seized control of dozens of villages in the mountainous Dinniyeh district, east of Tripoli before being defeated by a force of 13,000 Lebanese soldiers in several days of intense combat.[1]
After the fighting members of The Dinniyeh Group who were not killed or captured fled to Ain al-Hilweh. According to court documents from judicial proceedings against captured members, the group had received financial support from associates of Osama bin Laden through bank accounts in Beirut and north Lebanon.[1] In 2005, members of the group were released by a parliamentary resolution after the 2005 elections which also pardoned the most powerful anti-Syrian Christian leader Samir Geagea.
References
Categories:- Islamist groups
- Lebanon stubs
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