One of Lebanon’s most wanted militants is found dead

Ghandi al-Sahmarani, one of Jund al-Sham militant leaders was found dead Saturday in Ain al-Helwa, a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon.

Al-Sahmarani, better known as “Abu Ramiz”, was one of the most wanted militant leaders after his group's confrontation against the Lebanese government in 2000. He was also responsible in leading attacks against the Lebanese army during the Nahr al-Bared events in 2007.

In 2007 fighting broke out between Fatah al-Islam, an Islamists organization, and the Lebanese Armed Forces in the Palestinian refugee camp in Nahr al-Bared, making it the most severe international fighting since the country’s civil war in 1975-1990.

“Ghandi al-Sahmarani, a key person in organizing Jund al-Sham, has been found dead in Ain al-Helwa on Saturday,” said Muneer al-Mukadah, a Fatah Palestinian political party member and lieutenant stationed in the party’s headquarters in Lebanon.

Found dead in a parking lot

Al-Sahmarani is a Lebanese hailing from the country’s northern city, Tripoli, was found dead in a car parking lot.

“He did not live in Ain al-Helwa, he was not allowed to enter the camp since the last two years, but he lived in a neighborhood close to the camp,” al-Mukadah added.

According to al-Mukadah, al-Sahmarani’s corpse was brought inside the camp.

The Lebanese army has cordoned the camp, and has transported his corpse to the hospital.

"His arms and legs were tied with wires, and his skull had the effect of a gunshot through his mouth.”

Jund al-Sham was first believed to have first appeared in Afghanistan in 1999, and was established by Syrians, Palestinians and Lebanese with links to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi who went on to find al-Qaeda in Iraq, and later killed by a U.S. airstrike.

The group has also clashed in the past with members of the Palestinian Fatah.

In a 2007 interview al-Sahmarani denied ties to al-Qaeda “It is untrue that we have been trained by al-Qaeda. Those who went to Iraq are ordinary folks. I would have gone had I been able to.”

He also denied any relation with the “infidel Syria Baath regime”, adding “I do not think that we, as Muslims, would accept any money from lay MPs affiliated to an infidel regime.”