Fighting Continues Between Lebanese Military and Terrorists

The fighting between Fatah al Islam and the Lebanese military continues at the Nahr al-Bared camp, as the Lebanese military continues to pound the refugee camp with artillery and tank fire while machine gun battles echo through the streets.

Fierce battles erupted around the camp's Samed center, the Cooperative building and UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) schools, where the remnants of Fatah al-Islam fighters are holed up. Thick plumes of smoke were seen billowing from these positions as fires engulfed buildings around the area. While the army reported no casualties, an estimated 16 Fatah al-Islam fighters are believed to have fallen on Friday, six of them at the Mhammara front, said a report by the National News Agency.

The army briefly stopped bombardment at about noon to allow camp residents to go to Friday prayers. The reduction in the intensity of the bombardment allowed the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), in conjunction with the Palestinian Red Crescent, to ferry out 85 camp residents, mostly women, children, the elderly and the infirm.

Virginia De LaGuardia, an ICRC spokeswoman, told The Daily Star Friday evening seven ambulances managed to enter the camp to evacuate civilians. In addition, humanitarian-aid deliveries were made for the remaining civilians inside the camp.

"Today we managed to get in 1,200 liters of water, 1.9 metric tons of canned tuna and 1.6 metric tons of meals-ready-to-eat," De LaGuardia said. "We enter the camp whenever we can. It's always very difficult - there is a lot of rubble and debris, as well as unexploded ordnance. That is why we send ambulances [and] not trucks - because it's difficult to maneuver."

Tanks and heavy artillery opened an intensive barrage on militant positions at about 9 a.m. Friday morning, responding to machine-gun and rocket-propelled-grenade fire from inside the camp targeting army positions in Khan al-Abde to the north of the camp. Artillery fire also targeted militant positions at the northern bank of the Bared River, close to the main road at the center of the camp.

A senior army source said on condition of anonymity that the army was advancing "extremely slowly" and clearing rigged buildings, but troops have not yet penetrated into the heart of the camp and remain on the outskirts. "We are not storming the camp - we are going building by building."

The terrorists rigged buildings with explosives - buildings where civilians were living, all in order to cause more casualties. To the terrorists, the civilians are nothing more than cannon fodder to be exploited for body counts.

Meanwhile, various factions of the Lebanese polity are looking favorably at a French proposal to meet on how to improve dialogue.

Factions from both sides of Lebanon's political divide voiced their support on Friday for a French proposal to host informal fence-mending talks in Paris. The Future Movement, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, and opposition parties Hizbullah, Amal and the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) welcomed the new French proposal.

France said on Friday that it would invite Lebanese political leaders and prominent civic figures to an informal meeting aimed at improving political dialogue in the country.

It's telling that the French consider Hizbullah a partner for dialogue considering their long history of terrorism and starting wars. Have they secured a seat at the table simply because they've managed to become the faction with the most guns, despite the UN SCR calling for the disarmament of all militias - including Hizbullah? I'd say they have.

The UN has failed to disarm Hizbullah, and there are numerous reports that Hizbullah has not only managed to replenish the missiles fired into Israel in last summer's disastrous war, but has brought in even longer range missiles with the capability to hit Tel Aviv.

Hizbullah has also continued to amass arms since the war last summer, and according to the Times these include Russian-made antitank missiles, short- and long-range rockets, small arms, mines and ammunition have been smuggled into Lebanon from Syria and Iran.

An Israeli missile expert told the newspaper that Israel was particularly concerned over long-range Fatah-110 rockets that have been supplied to Hizbullah, and that had a 125-mile range enabling them to reach Tel Aviv.