Three Palestinian terrorists die in battle with Syrian troops

The melee erupted between Syrian special forces and suicide fighters of the Palestinian radical Fatah al-Islam in the Yarmoukh refugee camp in South Damascus. According to debkafile‘s counter-terror sources, it was prompted by the arrest in Syria some weeks ago of the Palestinian group’s leader Shaker al Abassi, who is associated with al Qaeda in Iraq. Damascus disclosed that a bomb vest was attached to the body of one of the three Palestinian killed in the battle, but did not name the date of the incident.
Our military sources report that last week, Syrian air force intelligence stopped five Fatah al-Islam suicide killers from blowing themselves up in the middle of the crowded Damascus’ Abbasi Stadium. They could have killed hundreds of people.
That near-disaster may well be linked to the Yarmoukh incident – or else Syrian security forces are cracking down on Fatah al Islam cells in general.
Only ten days ago, 17 people, including a senior intelligence officer, were killed by a bomb car planted near two Syrian security installations on the highway to Damascus airport. Syrian sources have suggested that Arabs from outside the country were responsible. However, when the episodes are taken together, they lead security experts to trace the source of the trouble to the Palestinian refugee camps around Damascus.