US warns Americans of Lebanon travel

The US Embassy in Beirut has warned US citizens not to travel to Lebanon, urging those already in the country to avoid hotels, shopping centers and public events.

Å“Following recent bombings in Beirut and other instances of violence that have occurred in Lebanon in recent months, the US government strongly urges U.S. citizens in Lebanon to exercise extreme caution and to avoid hotels, western-style shopping centers, including western-style grocery chain stores, and any public or social events where U.S. citizens normally congregate,” said a security message issued by the US State Department and published on the website of the American embassy to Lebanese capital Beirut.The message warns that Å“These sites are likely targets for terrorist attacks for at least the near term.” The embassy also urged all American citizens Å“to avoid all travel to Lebanon due to safety and security concerns.”

Beirut has been the scene of several deadly terrorist attacks in the recent weeks. The violence is largely a metastasis of the war in the neighboring Syria, which has fueled sectarian tensions in Lebanon mostly between supporters and opponents of the Syrian President Bashar al-Asad.

The US and its regional allies including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Israel and Turkey are supporting anti-government insurgents in Syria.

Lebanese army arrested the Saudi leader of an al Qaeda-affiliated militant group in Beirut whose group had claimed responsibility for including a twin suicide bombing of Iranâ„¢s embassy in Lebanonâ„¢s capital. Only a day after his arrest, the Lebanese army said in a statement on Saturday that Majed Al-Majed died Å“at the central military hospital after deterioration in his health.”

The Saudi national was heading the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, a salafist militant group that has been playing a role in fomenting insecurity and violence in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. News of his death has prompted unanswered questions about the events leading up to his death.

In 2009, the then US Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, admitted that the US government created and funded Al-Qaeda in order to fight the Soviet Union.

Clinton told a US Congressional sub-committee on April 23rd that Å“Letâ„¢s remember here, the people we are fighting today we funded 20 years ago and we did it because we were locked in this struggle with the Soviet Union, they invaded Afghanistan and we did not want to see them control central Asia and we went to work. And it was President Reagan in partnership with the Congress led by democrats who said you know what? Sounds like a pretty good idea. Letâ„¢s deal with the ISI and the Pakistani military. Letâ„¢s go recruit these Mujaheddin. Thatâ„¢s great letâ„¢s get some to come from Saudi Arabia and other places importing their Wahhabi brand of Islam so that we can go beat the Soviet Union. And guess what? They retreated. It cost billions of dollars and it led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. And thereâ„¢s a very strong argument that it wasnâ„¢t a bad investment to end the Soviet Union. But letâ„¢s be careful what we sow because we will harvest.”

DB/DB