Iran warns of Fatah al-Islam activity

TEHRAN, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- Saudi security forces established a unit made up of al-Qaida fighters as a bulwark to growing Iranian sympathy in the region, Iranian media claim.

The Iranian Press TV said public opinion surveys in the Persian Gulf island nation of Bahrain and parts of northern Saudi Arabia suggest a growing level of support for the Islamic Republic. The poll, Press TV said, showed those surveyed would support Iran in the event of a military attack from the United States or Israel.

The media reports link the group Fatah al-Islam to al-Qaida operatives who may be incorporated into the Sunni militant group to crush reformers inside the country.

Seymour Hersh, a contributor to The New Yorker, had suggested that Fatah al-Islam was created by U.S. and Saudi officials as a rival to the Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah, and The Daily Star, published in Lebanon, in November pointed to intelligence that suggests the same.

"The militants are being used to support Saudi Arabia against domestic revolts and foreign threats, according to reports by opposition Saudi sources," the Press TV report said.

Syrian state television in November showed 12 members of Fatah al-Islam confessing to September attacks in Damascus that left 14 dead and more than 60 injured.

Fatah al-Islam leader Shakir al-Abssi was an associate of the former al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Abssi was sentenced to death in absentia for the 2002 assassination of Laurence Foley, an American diplomat working in Jordan.