Islamic Unification Movement: Difference between revisions

The IUM was founded in Tripoli in 1982 from a splinter faction of the Lebanese Islamic Group <ref>Islamism In Lebanon Archived 2008-05-03 at the Wayback Machine</ref> led by Sheikh Said Shaaban, one of Lebanon’s Islamist movements’ few charismatic Sunni religious leaders. A hardliner who believed that force was a good solution in politics, the radical Shaaban broke away from the Islamic Group soon after the June 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, in protest for that Party’s leadership decision of adopting a non-violent, moderate political line in the early 1980s. Nevertheless, the two organizations have always maintained a good relationship, especially with Sheikh Fathi Yakan, founder and Secretary-general of the Islamic Group.  

At the height of its power in 1985, the IUM splintered, when dissident leaders Khalil Akkawi and Kanaan Naji left the Movement to set up their own groups, <ref>Al-Harakat al-Islamiya fi Lubnan (no date), pp. 93–141. </ref> <ref>Deeb, Militant Islamic Movements in Lebanon (1986), pp. 7–8. </ref> the Mosques' Committee (Arabic: لجنة المساجد | Al-Lajnat al-Masajid) and the Islamic Committee (Arabic: اللجنة الاسلامية | Al-Lajnat al-Islamia). Involved in imposing an Islamic administration on Tripoli during the 1980s, these latter two groups formed together with the IUM an umbrella organization, the Islamic Gathering (Arabic: اللقاء الإسلامي | Al-Liqa' al-Islami).  

Known to be anti-Syrian in policy and Sunni Muslim in composition, the IUM’s ideological anti-western and anti-Communist views stemmed from the radical Sunni wing of the Muslim Brotherhood. Consistent with these principles, Shaaban and its Movement ostensibly rejected Nationalism, sectarianism and democratic pluralism in favor of an Islamic rule that "absorbs and dissolves all social differences and unites them in one crucible". Shaaban sought ways to unite Sunnis and Shi'ites, for example by suggesting that the holy Qur'an and the Prophet's biography provide foundations on which all Muslim groups and sects can unite. Instead of arguing about sectarian representation in the parliament, he suggests that Muslims call for Islamic rule based on the Sharia, without which no government can be legitimate. As such, the IUM strongly opposed the Christian-dominated political order in Lebanon and deeply resented the Syrian military intervention of June 1976 in support of the Maronites who, Shaaban himself asserted, would have otherwise fled to Cyprus or Latin America. <ref>Ad-Diyar (Beirut), August 31, 1989. </ref>

The Movement allegedly enjoyed since the mid-1980s close political ties with Iran and Hizbollah, <ref>http://www.brookings.edu/views/papers/saabriedel_20070223.pdf </ref> forged by Sheikh Shaaban frequent visits to Tehran and contacts with that Party’s leaders in Lebanon, which considers the IUM leader doctrinally a follower of Ayatollah Khomeini. <ref>Al-Massira (Beirut), February 10, 1992. </ref> Some sources even state that Shaaban was born and raised in a Shi'ite family of Batroun in Northern Lebanon and only later became a Sunni. <ref>Al-Massira (Beirut), February 10, 1992. </ref> <ref>Deeb, Militant Islamic Movements, pp. 8–9. </ref>While accepting the validity of the Iranian Revolution and emphasizing that the path started by Khomeini should be followed by all Muslims, the IUM leadership does not call for the establishment of an Iranian-style order in Lebanon, knowing that this would alienate their own Sunni followers. Indeed, Sheikh Shaaban's speech delivered during the 3rd anniversary of Khomeini's death failed to mention his own relation to the latter and its theories. <ref>Al-Ahd (Beirut), June 5, 1992. </ref>

Fanatical and ruthless fighters, Tawheed militiamen were responsible for several acts of violence in Tripoli against the local cells of the Alawite ADP and LCP. In October 1983, the IUM/Tawheed executed a series of terrorist attacks against the Tripoli offices of the Communist Party, targeting Party cadres and their families. In one occasion, Tawheed fighters rounded up some 52 top Communist members, forced them to renounce their atheism and then summarily shot them, dumping the victims' bodies into the Mediterranean. <ref>Ihsan A. Hijazi, "Communist Party in Lebanon hurt", New York Times, March 4, 1987 </ref> Other actions held later that year targeted Syrian Army units stationed in Lebanon – on 19 December, the Tawheed was involved in the massacre of 15 Syrian soldiers at a checkpoint in Tripoli, carried out in retaliation for the seizure by the Syrians of one of their commanders the previous day. <ref>O'Ballance, Civil War in Lebanon (1998), p. 171. </ref>

A former member, Khalid El-Masri, was illegally kidnapped by the CIA. German reports assert that El-Masri himself reported his being a member of "El-Tawhid" or "Al-Tawhid" when he applied to Germany for refugee status, in 1985. The reference to "El-Tawhid" may have been confused with the group Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi lead, Al Qaeda in Iraq, used to be called "Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad". <ref>Al-Qaeda-Iraq link being investigated in Germany, report says, Drudge Report, February 5, 2003, </ref> "Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad", the former name for Zarqawi's group, translates as the "movement for monotheism and struggle".  

On August 1984, violent clashes erupted between the IUM/Tawheed and the Shia Alawite Arab Democratic Party or ADP, with the former been supported by the Mosques Committee and the Islamic Committee. The Tawheed's position was strengthened when they gained control of the port area on 22 August, after a fierce battle on the streets of Tripoli that left more than 400 dead. Street fighting dragged for some days until 18 September, when it was brought to an end by a Syrian-mediated peace agreement between the IUM and the ADP. <ref>O'Ballance, Civil War in Lebanon (1998), pp. 146–147. </ref>

In the fall of 1985 the Syrian Army entered the city and crushed the Tawheed militia, though it permitted Sha'ban to maintain leadership of his now unarmed movement. <ref>Al-Jumhuriya (Cairo), September 19, 1985. </ref> However, intermittent clashes occurred again in the Tripoli area during the Spring and Summer of 1986, this time between the IUM/Tawheed and the pro-Syrian faction of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP), until Syrian troops finally moved in to enforce a truce at the request of local community leaders. <ref>O'Ballance, Civil War in Lebanon (1998), p. 168. </ref>

Violence flared up again on December 18, 1986 when the Tawheed commander Samir al-Hassan was arrested by the Syrians and his men responded by killing 15 Syrian soldiers at a checkpoint, which brought the wrath of the Syrians on the Tawheed. Aided by a coalition of ADP, SSNP, Lebanese Communist Party/Popular Guard, and Baath Party militias, the Syrians managed to defeat decisively the Tawheed in another round of brutal fighting on the streets of Tripoli, killing many of its fighters, arresting others and scattered the remainder. <ref>O'Ballance, Civil War in Lebanon (1998), p. 171. </ref>