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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Lebanese Army, Militants Resume Fight |
| 2007-05-22 |
| Artillery and machine gun fire echoed around a crowded Palestinian refugee camp for a third straight day Tuesday, as the Lebanese government ordered the army to finish off the Fatah Islam militants holed up inside the camp in the country's north. Black smoke billowed from the area after artillery and machine gun exchanges at the Nahr el-Bared camp on the outskirts of the port city of Tripoli. Relief supplies could not enter the camp as the U.N. Relief and Works Agency scrambled to evacuate one of its employees, a Palestinian aid worker wounded Monday, Taleb al-Salhani of UNRWA said. Lebanese army stopped six UNRWA trucks, including a water tanker, saying it was too dangerous to enter the camp, leaving them parked by the roadside. Al-Salhani said he hoped for a cease-fire later in the day to allow the U.N. convoy through. Inside the city itself, security forces moved in against a suspected Fatah Islam hideout in an apartment building, witnesses said. Shots rang out on Mitein Street at midmorning as security forces, after receiving a tip about armed men in an apartment, raided the building using tear gas and leaving it gutted. Apparently no one was caught. The developments reflected the government's determination to pursue the Islamic militants who have staged attacks on Lebanese troops since Sunday, killing 29 soldiers. Some 20 militants have also been killed, as well as an undetermined number of civilians. Lebanon's Cabinet late Monday authorized the army to step up its campaign and "end the terrorist phenomenon that is alien to the values and nature of the Palestinian people," Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said. Major Palestinian faction leaders met with Prime Minister Fuad Saniora for the second time in as many days. European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana arrived Tuesday in Beirut to discuss the latest crisis gripping Lebanon. A spokesman for Fatah Islam, Abu Salim Taha, said the group managed to repulse several attempts by Lebanese troops to advance on their positions inside the camp. "The shelling is heavy, not only on our positions, but also on children and women The latest fighting has raised fears that Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war could spread in a country with an uneasy balancing act among various sects and factions. Palestinian refugees have been hiding in their homes inside the camp and Palestinian officials there said nine civilians were killed Monday. Reports from the camp of food and medical supplies running out could not be confirmed because officials and reporters could not enter. Mufti Salim Lababidi, a Sunni spiritual leader of Palestinians in Lebanon, denounced the shelling which he claimed has killed or wounded some 100 civilians. "There are thousand ways to uproot Fatah Islam ... there are ways other than this," he said on al-Jazeera television. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #2 LOL! But who cares what theyre saying, as long as they are doing. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2007-05-22 11:01 |
| #1 Lebanon's Cabinet late Monday authorized the army to step up its campaign and "end the terrorist phenomenon that is alien to the values and nature of the Palestinian people," Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said. Huh? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-05-22 09:18 |