Bin Laden's family found shelter in Syria
By Ze'ev Schiff
Osama bin Laden's closest relatives found sanctuary in Syria after the leader of the Al Qaeda terrorist network was forced to leave Sudan and headed to Afghanistan. According to some reports, bin Laden's family left Syria before the attack last week on New York and the Pentagon in Washington.
Most of bin Laden's extended family is in Saudi Arabia. Not all of them support their relative's actions and some have criticized his ideology in public. The criticism was published after bin Laden was named responsible for the destruction of the two American embassies in East Africa in the late 1990s. After leaving Sudan, bin Laden moved his closest family members to Syria, while he found refuge in Afghanistan.
It's clear that he moved his family to Syria with the approval of the Syrian authorities, achieved, in all likelihood, by means of financial support that he made available to Damascus.
Syria has long served as a refuge for extremists wanted by international law and individuals involved in terrorism activities, including top Nazi officials after World War II. More recently, Damascus provided shelter to the head of the Kurdish Workers party, Abdullah Ocalan, who was wanted by the Turkish authorities for his role in terror attacks in that country. Syria moved Ocalan out of the country only after coming under intense pressure from Turkey.
Others who still find refuge in Syria are leaders of Palestinian terror groups, such as Ahmed Jibril, as well as Islamic Jihad leaders, including the current leader of the movement, Abdullah Shalah.
According to one still unconfirmed report, bin Laden's family left Syria just before the attack on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. It is not known if they went to Afghanistan, but the issue is expected to arise when the question of Syrian involvement in the U.S.-led coalition against international terrorism comes up. Damascus will have to explain to Washington its relationship with bin Laden and what Syrian intelligence knows about his activities and those of his family while it was in Syria.
haaretzdaily.com |
