Tripoli Siege Against Fatah al Islam Continues

The following are two videos of the situation in Tripoli, Lebanon as a result of the ongoing fight between Fatah al Islam and the Lebanese military and police forces.





The Lebanese are asserting control over the Palestinian camp where the terrorists have holed up. This is sending a message to both the Palestinians and to Syria, which many believe is backing the Fatah al Islam terror group.

Months after Palestinian factions lost control of the camp to the Syrian-intelligence Islamist creation, the terrorists felt they could get away with massacring Lebanese soldiers and terrorizing Lebanese citizens. More details have emerged about what transpired Sunday morning. According to As-Safir, an ISF investigation into a bank robbery accidentally led the police to an apartment in Tripoli that members of Fatah al-Islam used as a base. The Islamists reacted to the police operation by attacking a Lebanese army post near the Nahr El Bared refugee camp, slaughtering 17 Lebanese army soldiers in their sleep, and ambushing others on leave in Qalamoun and Koura. The terrorists' weapon of choice: suicide attacks. As-Safir said the ISF and the Army intelligence had been monitoring the movements of Fatah al-Islam for months. They succeeded in apprehending over a dozen members, but the camp was off limits to them.

The Lebanese military offensive may help give the Siniora government operating space to deal with Syria, but the larger issue of Syrian destabilization operations against Lebanon remains unaddressed so long as Assad continues to remain in power.

UPDATE:
FoxNews is reporting that civilians are fleeing the refugee camp that has become a battleground between Fatah al Islam and the Lebanese military. While a truce is supposedly in place, gunfire continues to be exchanged between the two sides.

Meanwhile, Lebanese military officials said the body of the second-in-command of the Fatah Islam militant group was retrieved Wednesday near the camp in Tripoli.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media, said that the Lebanese Civil Defense personnel uncovered the body of Abu Madyan in the area of Abde, just north of the Nahr al-Bared camp.

Abu Madyan was killed on Monday during battles between his group and the Lebanese army. He is the highest ranking member of the group to be killed since the battles began near the camp Sunday.

The Lebanese government has said it's determined to uproot Fatah Islam, and on Wednesday, the army reinforced its positions around Nahr el-Bared.

A militant who identified himself as Fatah Islam's deputy leader told The Associated Press the group would never surrender and vowed to fight to the death if attacked.

"We are ready to enter into a permanent cease-fire on condition we stay, military action against us is halted and life is allowed to return to normal in the camp," said the militant, who goes by the name Abu Hureira.

Rima Fawaz notes who will pay for this terrorism, it is the Lebanese people who will die and be displaced because of violence imposed on them by terrorist groups and foreign groups seeking to turn Lebanon into a mess.

Thousands of people remain stuck in the camp even as the violence continues. The Lebanese military has issued an ultimatum to the terrorists:

"The army will not negotiate with a group of terrorists and criminals. Their fate is arrest, and if they resist the army, death," he said in an interview with the Al-Arabiya television. "There are two choices: The first one, which we prefer, is that they surrender... the other, which we don't like... is military action."

It remains to be seen whether the Lebanese military has the staying power to back up those words. One can only hope that they're successful in beating back this latest threat to Lebanese sovereignty.