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The Arab Islamic Resistance (AIR) released a new 10-minute video showing a military drill undertaken by the group’s fighters under the name The “Zi-Qar Drill.” The video showed a small number of fighters, including women and children, training in a mountain area on the use of firearms.

The Arab Islamic Resistance is a Lebanese Shiite militant group that presents itself as an Arab-oriented resistance alternative to the militant Shiite Lebanese Hizbollah group. It was set up last January by Shiite cleric Sayyed Moahammed al Husseiny, Secretary General of the Islamic-Arab Council.

The group is suspected to have fired a number of rockets towards the north of Israel last January. Hizbollah denied being behind the attack, but the AIR never claimed responsibility.

A military commander and strategic analyst in al Qaeda organization who uses the name “Assad al-Jihad” (Lion of Jihad) claimed in a posting on a pro-al Qaeda website that the executors of the “mysterious” Katyusha mortars fired on Israel during the war on Gaza were members of “al Qaeda Organization in the Lands of the Levant.” The announcement is the first official claim of responsibility made by an al Qaeda senior operative.

There is no proof however that al Qaeda was behind the attack nor is there evidence of the existence of a group with that name in Lebanon. Senior al Qaeda leaders, including Osama bin Laden, Ayman al Zawahri and Abu Yahya al Libi had issued statements condemning the Israeli attacks on Gaza.

A website linked to the militant Lebanese Shiite group Hizbollah said that the group’s chief Hassan Nasrallah has said during an internal meeting that he will not back down on his decision to avenge the death of slain commander Imad Mughniyeh and that a “big surprise” was still waiting to be played “in the face of the enemy.”

A clip posted on the same website featured recently freed Lebanese prisoner Samir Quntar firing an RPG. The title read: “First step in the battlefield .. Samir Quntar fires B7 shells.”

The militant Palestinian group Fatah al Islam claimed responsibility for an attack on the headquarters of the Lebanese military intelligence unit in Abdah. “God has enabled a group of our heroic mujahideen to avenge those whose blood had been spilt during the assault by the Lebanese Army on Nahr al Bared camp,” the Internet statement said. The Lebanese authorities announced that only one soldier was killed in the attack, while the statement claimed there were several casualties.

The militant Lebanese Islamist group Fatah al Islam vowed in a statement released Tuesday not to remain silent in face of what it considered were intentional attacks against Sunnis in Lebanon. “We will defend our people in this country and cut the heads of those who try to make them lower their heads, even if this costs us lives and bloodshed,” says the statement.

The statement attacks the militant Shiite group Hezbullah as well as the Lebanese Future Party, which it accuses of being an “agent of the Americans.” The group argues that the Future Party, which is led by Saad al Hariri, does not represent Lebanese Sunnis and holds it responsible for “killing our brothers and destroying a full refugee camp.”

As for Hezbullah, the statement says claims that the Beirut attacks were in reaction to the governments moves against the group are lies. The statement says the intention is to weaken Sunnis in Lebanon and keep them divided.

The group also refutes claims by former parliament member Nasser Qandil about member of Fatah al Islam blocking roads to the factory. The statement refers to Qandil as the “mouthpiece” of Hezbullah and argues the intent of his statements is to justify an attack against the Sunnis in this area.

A year on after the military operation launched by the Lebanese Army on the militant Islamist group Fatah al-Islam strongholds in Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, the group announced it will be releasing new unseen pictures from the battles of Nahr al Bared and of its leader Shaker al-Absi.