The leader of a Lebanon-based al Qaeda affiliate Fatah al Islam has been killed while attempting to travel to Iraq to join the insurgency. Al Qaeda in Iraq continues to use eastern Syria as a staging ground for foreign terrorists entering Iraq, often with the support of Syria’s intelligence service.

Abdul Rahman Awad, the group leader, was killed along with his deputy, Ghazi Faysal Abdullah, also known as ‘ Abu Bakr ‘. They were shot by Lebanese security forces during a clash in the Bekaa Valley over the weekend. The group confirmed the deaths of Awad and Abdullah in a statement released on a jihadi website, and said that the two leaders were traveling to Iraq to join up with the Islamic State of Iraq, al Qaeda’s front group. Read more on Awad and his group on the recent Defense-Update news analysis.