Lebanon's Assault on Fatah al Islam Resumes

The Lebanese army resumed its air raids and shelling of islamist gunmen holed up at Nahr al-Bared on Saturday after evacuating the last remaining civilians from the battered refugee camp. Helicopters carried out repeated raids dropping 250- and 400-kilogram bombs on the small area still controlled by the Al-Qaeda-inspired Fatah al-Islam members while tanks shelled the camp, AFP reported.



"Pressure on the militants will be maintained until they heed our call to surrender," an army spokesman said. According to him, information gathered from the 63 women and children who were evacuated from the camp on Friday could help the army in its final assault on the militants.

Lebanon's military has been fighting Fatah al Islam for nearly three months now and has reduce large parts of Nahr al-Bared to rubble in heavy fighting.

Meanwhile, the Lebanese have requested that the UN peacekeeping forces (UNIFIL) stay on for another year. UNIFIL could stay on indefinitely, but unless UNIFIL and the Lebanese start disarming Hizbullah throughout the country, the threat of war hangs over the country. Right now, UNIFIL's mandate only permits them to deal with Hizbullah South of the Litani River, but Hizbullah has regrouped and swarmed the area to the North, placing its forces inside civilian areas - knowing that if they fire on Israel, the counterbattery fire will result in Lebanese civilian casualties.

Meanwhile, there is still no word on Goldwasser and Regev, who have been held by Hizbullah for more than a year.

UNIFIL has also failed to implement all the terms of UN SCR 1701, including securing Lebanon's borders and preserving its territorial integrity from militias and incursions by countries, including Syria. I've repeatedly noted that Syria's interference in Lebanon is a tremendously destabilizing factor - and that interference includes assassinating political opponents and funding and supporting terrorists who operate within Lebanon.