Fatah al-Islam's leader Shaker al-Abssi has claimed that his group does not have organizational ties to Al-Qaida, but he also acknowledges support of the group's violent actions against the West. Al-Qaida-connected Web sites have published Fatah al-Islam propaganda.

The Lebanese government has linked Fatah al-Islam to Syrian intelligence services, though such a connection is denied by Syrian officials. Syrian intelligence services supported Fatah al-Islam's parent organization, Fatah al-Intifada, before Abssi created his splinter group.

Robberies help provide the group with funding. Fatah al-Islam also carries out terrorist attacks, such as shootings and bombings.

The group's profile was raised in May 2007 after a bank robbery that ultimately ended in a 105-day siege of the group inside the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp. During the siege, some Fatah al-Islam militants used Dragunov sniper rifles, a semi-automatic weapon designed in the Soviet Union between 1958 and 1963.

Fatah al-Islam was established on Nov. 29, 2006, when the group declared it was splitting from the "apostate" Fatah al-Intifada (Fatah Uprising), a Syrian-backed Palestinian group based in Lebanon. The message was distributed within the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon, the group's stronghold. Most Fatah al-Islam members have been Lebanese, but fighters from Iraq and Jordan also joined Fatah al-Islam. A third of those killed in the fighting in Nahr al-Bared between May and September of 2007 were said to be Lebanese.

Shaker Youssef al-Abssi, born near the West Bank city of Jericho in 1955, is the leader of Fatah al-Islam. He escaped Nahr al-Bared camp at the end of the siege by Lebanese forces in the summer of 2007. His family fled the West Bank during the 1967 Six-Day War. Abssi spent his childhood in Palestinian refugee camps outside Amman, Jordan. In the 1970s, Abssi became a pilot in Libya, and flew fighters against Chad during the 1980s. The Palestinian militant also trained pilots in Nicaragua and the former North Yemen before settling down in Damascus, Syria.

Abssi reportedly became a close acquaintance of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (the former leader of Al-Qaida in Iraq). They were said to have plotted the assassination of U.S. Agency for International Development official Laurence Foley in Amman in December 2002. Both were subsequently sentenced to death in absentia in Jordan for the killing.

In 2002, Abssi was arrested in Syria for membership in a banned Islamist group and sentenced to three years in jail. Upon release in 2005, Abssi went to Lebanon and joined Fatah al-Intifada. He formed his own splinter group, Fatah al-Islam, in November 2006.

Fatah al-Islam reportedly planned to establish an "Islamic principality" in Tripoli and in several other areas in northern Lebanon with the help of Al-Qaida members who fled Iraq and reached Lebanon. The militants also planned terror attacks in Beirut and other towns, as part of what they dubbed "Operation 755," according to the London-based Al-Hayat daily.

Security forces learned of this campaign when they came into possession of CDs containing detailed information about "Operation 755." They also arrested a man who had rented out a building in Tripoli where nearly 1,000 pounds of explosive-making substances were hidden. These materials, used by Fatah al-Islam, were traced back to a Syrian plant.

Police tracked Fatah al-Islam militants to their stronghold in Nahr al-Bared camp and an office building in Tripoli after a May 19, 2007, bank robbery. At that point, fighting erupted. The militants launched attacks against Lebanese army positions at the entrance to the camp, capturing two armored personnel carriers. Gunmen also ambushed a military unit, killing two soldiers.

Ultimately, more than 300 people died during the 105-day siege of the Fatah al-Islam stronghold inside the Tripoli refugee camp. Half of the dead were Lebanese soldiers. The violence resulted in 30,000 Palestinian refugees fleeing their camp. This was Lebanon's worst internal strife since the 1975-1991 civil war.

Many of the top leaders of Fatah al-Islam were killed or captured during the Nahr el-Bared siege and its aftermath, but Abssi and others are still unaccounted for. Abssi was later reported killed or captured in Syria in December 2008, but this claim has not been verified. The group's ability to reorganize has been seriously hindered by this chain of events.

Other escaped leaders:

Shahine Shahine (nom de guerre Abu Salma), reportedly a Saudi national from Morocco, claimed to have control of Fatah al-Islam in June 2007 after the disappearances of Shaker al-Abssi and Abu Hureira. Some press reports have referred to him as a spokesman for the group.

Abu al-Hassan is the name of a Fatah al-Islam communications advisor. Al-Hassan was a journalism student who dropped out of school to join the terrorist group; he helped create a news magazine to boost recruitment efforts.

After unconfirmed reports surfaced in late 2008 regarding the possible death or capture of Abssi at the hands of Syrian agents, Abu Muhammad Awad was named the amir of Fatah al-Islam.

Leaders accounted for:

Shehab al-Qaddour (nom de guerre Abu Hureira), Fatah al-Islam's deputy commander, was killed in early August 2007. Abu Hureira died in Tripoli, shot by Lebanese internal security forces at a checkpoint in Abu Samra. Hureira was riding on a motorcycle with another man when they were stopped. Hureira was killed and the other man injured in the shootout. Hureira's sister, as well as DNA tests, confirmed his death.

Abu-Salim Taha, the official spokesman for Fatah al-Islam, was captured on Sept. 15, 2007, during an army raid close to the Beddawi refugee camp. Three other militants -- from Syria, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia -- were also seized.

Bilal Drakish (aka Abu Jandal) was shot and killed by Lebanese security forces on May 23, 2007, during a raid in Tripoli, in the northern neighborhood of Tibanneh.

Nasser Ismail, a senior military commander of Fatah al-Islam, was reported to have been captured on Oct. 1, 2007. Fleeing Nahr al-Bared, he hid in nearby forests for several weeks before he was finally detained inside the Beddawi refugee camp. Nasser was reportedly found, along with another Fatah al-Islam fugitive, inside an attic.

Nov. 29: Fatah al-Islam was founded in a split from Fatah al-Intifada.

May 19: Robbers made off with $125,000 from a bank in Amyoun, a town southeast of Tripoli. The thieves were traced to an apartment in Tripoli that turned out to be an office for Fatah al-Islam. A gun battle ensued and a three-day standoff between security forces and militants.

May 20: While security forces surrounded an office building in Tripoli, the army began pounding the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp with 120-mm mortar rounds and tank shells. Fatah al-Islam fighters responded with grenades and machine-gun fire. At least 27 soldiers, 15 militants and 15 civilians died in one day of fighting. Among those killed were Saddam el-Hajdib, alleged perpetrator of the failed July 31, 2006, German commuter train bombing, and Abu Yazan, a senior group commander.

May 21: Abu Madyan, the Fatah al-Islam second-in-command, was killed. Lebanese military officials retrieved his body on May 23 after it was discovered by Lebanese civil defense personnel in the Abde area, north of the Nahr al-Bared camp.

May 22: The last Fatah al-Islam militant in the Tripoli office comitted suicide. However, other Fatah al-Islam member remained at large in the Nahr el-Bared camp, a site that had been placed off-limits to Lebanese authorities under a 1969 agreement with the Palestinian Authority.

June 4: The London-based Al-Hayat daily reported that members of Fatah al-Islam militia had planned a revolt in Lebanon to overthrow the government. The plot, dubbed Operation 755 was foiled by local political and security elements.

June 15: Four Lebanese army soldiers were killed when a building rigged with explosives by Fatah al-Islam militants in the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp collapsed on top of them. Troops surrounding the camp continued intermittent and intense exchanges of fire with Fatah al-Islam fighters throughout the day.

June 21: LebaneseState Prosecutor Saeed Mirza filed charges against 16 suspected Fatah al-Islam members, including the group's at-large leader, Shaker Youssef al-Abssi. The defendants included nine Syrians, two Lebanese, two Palestinians (including one woman) and one Saudi fighter. The 16 were charged with the Feb. 13, 2007 attacks on two buses in Ain Alaq.

August: Lebanese officials said only 30 Fatah al-Islam fighters remained in the Nahr al-Bared camp, though some estimates put the figure slightly higher.

Aug. 13: Police arrested members of a dormant Fatah al-Islam cell in the provincial capital of Sidon. They confiscated weapons, computers and a list of targets. Two separate raids netted four Palestinian members of the cell. Brothers Younis and Youssef Shibli were apprehended in Taamir Harert Saida district, east of the city. Two other suspects, Ismail al-Sayyad and Mahmoud Shaaban, were caught in a nighttime raid. The operations were carried out by an anti-terror police force, the Data Branch.

Sept. 1: Abssi was suspected of having fled the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, along with several other militants, just a day before the army conducted its final operations storming the camp. According to a captured Yemeni, "Abssi was in good health, wearing an explosive belt and carrying a Kalashnikov, magazines and hand grenades,"as he left the camp.

Sept. 2: At least 39 militants and three soldiers were killed, the army said, after militants attempted to break out of the besieged Nahr al-Bared camp at dawn. Another 20 militants were said to have been captured as the operation was concluded.

Sept. 6: One Fatah al-Islam militant was killed by Lebanese soldiers in the northern village of Bebnin. Seven other militants were arrested in the nearby district of Akkar as troops attempted to round up the remaining militants who had escaped from Nahr al-Bared.

Oct. 1: A suspected senior commander of the Fatah al-Islam militant group, Nasser Ismail, was captured by Palestinian refugees in the Beddawi refugee camp in northern Lebanon and turned over to the Lebanese military. He had spent weeks in hiding.

May 31: Fatah al-Islam bombed an army checkpoint near the entrance to the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp. The attack, said to be in retaliation for the 15-week standoff the previous summer, claimed the life of one Lebanese soldier.

Sept. 27: A car loaded with over 400 pounds of explosives detonated in the Sidi Kadad suburb of Damascus, Syria, killing 17 civilians and wounding 14 people.

Nov. 6: Syrian state television broadcasted interviews with captured Fatah al-Islam members who claimed responsibility for the Damscus car bombing.

Nov. 8: A Lebanese raid in Tripoli netted Khalid al-Itter, a senior member of Fatah al-Islam.

Nov. 9: Three senior members of Fatah al-Islam were arrested by Lebanese security forces during a raid on the Palestinian refugee camp of Baddawi in north Lebanon. Sheikh Hamza Kassed, Khalid Jaber and Nader al-Ali were suspected of attacks in Syria and Lebanon.

Nov. 17: Lebanese newspaper Al-Moustaqbal published a report saying that Fatah al-Islam was founded by and remains controlled by Syrian intelligence officers seeking to destabilize the Lebanese government.

Dec. 10: A statement on Fatah al-Islam's Web site indicated that the group's leader, Shakir al-Abssi, may have been killed or captured in Syria after a firefight with Syrian security agents. The statement also named Abu Muhammad Awad as Abssi's successor.