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Gunbattles continue in Lebanon refugee camp

UN relief convoy hit when Lebanese troops and Fatah Islam militants renew exchanges of fire in refugee camp in northern city of Tripoli, despite cease-fire attempt; Hizbullah expresses support for troops

A convoy of UN relief supplies was hit in renewed fighting between Lebanese troops and al-Qaeda-inspired Islamic militants as it attempted to enter the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr el-Bared on Tuesday. At least two Palestinian refugees were killed when the convoy was hit, a relief official said.

 

The official from the UN Relief and Works Agency said a pickup truck and a water tanker were caught between the lines of the Lebanese army and the militant Fatah Islam fighters and hit as they entered the camp. "We could not distribute everything," he said. He could not say which side the fire came from.

 

A temporary cease-fire between the Lebanese troops and Fatah Islam forces collapsed Tuesday afternoon.  It was during the renewed fire that the convoy was hit.

 

It was the third such truce attempt to collapse in the three days of fighting at the camp outside the northern Lebanese port city of Tripoli, where the army - under orders from the Lebanese government - is trying to crush Fatah Islam, a militant group suspected of al-Qaeda ties.

 

After a Tuesday morning barrage, fighting stopped at around 2:30 p.m. when Fatah Islam announced it would stop firing. The halt was "an initiative from us in an attempt to stop the bloodshed of children and elderly. If the Lebanese army abide by it, it will hold," Abu Salim Taha, a spokesman for Fatah Islam.

 

The Lebanese military said at the time it would not be the first to renew fire, but refused to commit to a formal cease-fire. Less than an hour later, heavy exchanges of fire and several explosions were heard.

 

Relief trucks blocked 

Black smoke billowed from the area after artillery and machine gun exchanges during the morning barrages.  At that time, humanitarian supplies could not enter the camp as the relief agency scrambled to evacuate one of its employees, a Palestinian aid worker wounded Monday, Taleb al-Salhani of UNRWA said.

 

The 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 ceasefire later in the day to allow the UN 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.

 

Anti-terror campaign

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 Fouad Siniora 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, denied his group was behind fatal bomb blasts in Sunni and Christian sections Beirut on Sunday and Monday night. 

 

He also said his 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. Destruction is all over," he said.  

 

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.

 

The camp is home to more than 31,000 people living in two- or three-story white buildings on densely packed narrow streets. It is one of more than 12 impoverished camps housing more than 215,000 refugees, out of a total of 400,000 Palestinians here.

 

Lebanese authorities do not enter the camps, according to a nearly 40-year-old agreement with the Palestinians. Major Palestinian factions have distanced themselves from Fatah Islam, which arose here last year and touts itself as a Palestinian liberation movement. But many view it as a nascent branch of al-Qaeda-style terrorism with ambitions of carrying out attacks around the region.

 

Al-Qaeda links 

The leader of Fatah Islam, Palestinian Shaker al-Absi, has been linked to the former head of al-Qaeda in Iraq and is accused in the 2002 assassination of a US diplomat in Jordan. He moved into Nahr el-Bared last fall after being expelled from Syria, where he was in custody.

 

Since then, he is believed to have recruited about 100 fighters, including militants from Saudi Arabia, Yemen and other Arab countries, and he has said he follows the ideology of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

 

Among the militants killed in the fighting Sunday was a man suspected in a plot to bomb trains in Germany last year, according to Lebanese security officials.

 

Beirut security officials accuse Syria of backing Fatah Islam to disrupt Lebanon, charges that are denied by Damascus.

 

The military assault adds yet another layer of instability to Lebanon's potentially explosive politics. Siniora's government already faces a domestic political crisis, with the opposition led by Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hizbullah demanding its removal.

 

Ironically, Hizbullah has so far backed Lebanon's army in its confrontation with Fatah Islam, saying in a statement that "we feel that there is someone out there who wants to drag the army to this confrontation and bloody struggle ... to serve well-known projects and aims. We are hearing calls for more escalation and fighting, which will ultimately lead to more chaos and confrontation in Lebanon."  



 

Siniora also risks a backlash among Palestinians in Lebanon's other refugee camps, where armed groups and Islamic extremists have been growing in influence. The White House said it supports Siniora's efforts to deal with the fighting, and the State Department defended the Lebanese army, saying it was working in a "legitimate manner" against "provocations by violent extremists" operating in the camp.

 

The latest fighting has raised fears that Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war could spread. 

 

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.

 

AFP contributed to this report

 


פרסום ראשון: 05.22.07, 14:31
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