Dinnieh fighting

Date	30 December 1999 - 6 January 2000 (1 week)
Location	Dinnieh district
Status	Lebanese Army victory

Belligerents

Lebanese Army

Takfir wa al-Hijra

Commanders and leaders

Francois al-Hajj

Bassam Ahmad Kanj

Strength

13,000

200-300

Casualties and losses

12 killed

25 killed
55 captured

The Dinnieh fighting (30 December 1999-6 January 2000) involved the Islamist group Takfir wa al-Hijra and the Lebanese Army fighting for eight days in the mountainous Dinnieh region, east of the northern Lebanese port of Tripoli.

Over a period of several days, an estimated 13,000 Lebanese army troops backed by tanks and artillery swiftly defeated the group of 200-300 rebels, driving isolated bands of surviving guerrillas into remote areas of north Lebanon. The Lebanese army reported a total of 12 soldiers killed in action, while 25 rebels were killed and 55 captured.

The Dinniyeh Group was a group of 200-300 Islamist militants led by Bassam Ahmad Kanj. In January 2000 The Dinniyeh Group launched a failed attempt to create an Islamist mini-state in northern Lebanon. The militants seized control of dozens of villages in the mountainous Dinniyeh district, east of Tripoli before being defeated by a force of 13,000 Lebanese soldiers in several days of intense combat.

After the fighting members of The Dinniyeh Group who were not killed or captured fled to Ain al-Hilweh. According to court documents from judicial proceedings against captured members, the group had received financial support from associates of Osama bin Laden through bank accounts in Beirut and north Lebanon. In 2005, members of the group were released by a parliamentary resolution after the 2005 elections which also pardoned the most powerful anti-Syrian Christian leader Samir Geagea.

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