"... Radicals among Lebanon's Sunnis view the insurgency in their neighboring country as a welcome opportunity to put an end to Damascus' influence. "The struggle for freedom in Syria is our own struggle for freedom," says Sheik Masen al-Mohammed, one of the most important Sunni religious leaders in Tripoli. "We Lebanese are part of the Syrian revolution, part of the rebellion. If Syria gains its freedom, then we will also win in Lebanon." In addition to the political reasons, the sheik also has a key reason for encouraging Lebanese to fight in Syria. "Assad is an infidel," the sheik says, noting that the Syrian dictator is part of the Alawite sect ... In mid-February, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's successor as the head of the al-Qaida terrorist network, called on pious Muslims to support the insurgency against the Syrian regime........ "It is the duty of every Muslim, every Arab to fight the infidels," Sheik Masen also stated. "There is a holy war in Syria and the young men there are conducting jihad. ...
Sheik Masen claims that the Syrian conflict is becoming increasingly international. "We know of Palestinian, Libyan and Yemen fighters who are active there," he said. Iraqis are also fighting in Syria.
Sheik Masen expresses hope that the situation in Syria will soon be like Iraq was and that Arabs from all nations will join forces to battle the regime. "If we get to that point, then we will be able to mobilize tens of thousands of Lebanese," he says.
"I have a long list of telephone numbers of men who want to go to war in Syria," Abu Rami says, adding that most are experienced fighters. "Of the Lebanese who are deployed now, around 60 percent already fought in Iraq," he says. Men who once did battle against American soldiers, and were branded as al-Qaida terrorists, are now fighting on the side of Syrian insurgents, whose victory over Assad would be entirely welcomed by the West. Still, the involvement of foreign jihadist fighters makes it more difficult to differentiate between good and evil in the Syrian conflict.Last week, the first European fighter voluntarily crossed the border and entered into Syria to fight alongside the Free Syrian Army against the Assad regime. He was "a Frenchman who had just turned 24 and comes from a wealthy family,"........
Still, Abu Rami doesn't believe the regime will fall anytime soon. "You will first get married when the problem in Syria has been taken care of," he says jokingly to one of his subordinates. "In other words, in 50 years."
Uprooted Palestinian 
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