RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, June 13 (UPI) -- A Saudi newspaper said Monday the Jund al-Sham for Jihad and Unity group were planning terrorist attacks to establish Islamic states in and beyond Syria.
The semi-official al-Watan daily said Syrian authorities, who recently discovered the group, seized documents in the possession of al-Jund al-Sham elements showing preparations were being made to launch attacks in the country and sending its members for training abroad.
It added the documents showed that Syria would be divided into five areas, each being an Islamic emirate with a leader and its own organizational structure, with plans to expand to Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt and other countries.
The paper quoted unidentified "well-informed sources" as saying the discovery of this group came through a woman whose son was killed by a bomb he was planting on the Damascus-Beirut road in November 2004.
They added the aim of that operation by the group was to target a prominent Syrian government official while he was heading to Lebanon to attend a meeting of the Higher Syrian-Lebanese Committee.
