Lebanese Military Continues Fight Against Terrorists

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.

The death toll continues to climb upwards as the Lebanese military has laid siege to areas where Fatah al Islam is known to congregate in Tripoli. For its parts, Fatah al Islam is calling for a truce in the fighting. That's telling. I suspect it isn't a truce so much as a hudna, a strategic pause so that the terrorist group can regroup and rearm.

Fatah Islam will observe a cease-fire beginning at 2:30 p.m. (11:30 GMT) and expected it to hold "if the Lebanese army abides by it," spokesman Abu Salim Taha told The Associated Press from inside the camp.

Earlier Tuesday, artillery and machine gun fire echoed around a crowded Palestinian refugee camp as the Lebanese government ordered the army to finish off the Fatah Islam militants.

The fighting - which resumed for a third straight day after a brief nighttime lull - reflected the government's determination to pursue the Islamic militants who staged attacks on Lebanese troops on Sunday and Monday, killing 29 soldiers. Some 20 militants have also been killed, as well as an undetermined number of civilians.

The terrorists are claiming that the truce is needed to safeguard residents in the area, but the sad fact is that the terrorists purposefully operate in civilian areas so as to use them as human shields and they couldn't care less about civilian casualties. They simply think that the civilians injured or killed in the latest fighting may serve a propaganda purpose against the Lebanese government which is pursuing the terrorists.

UPDATE:
A UN convoy bringing in humanitarian aid was attacked. It isn't clear who opened fire on the convoy, but there are casualties reported.

UPDATE:
This report claims that snipers are everywhere in the camp firing on anything that moves, buildings are demolished all over the area, including three mosques:

Eli Bakhya, the cameraman, who entered the camp said he was able to go only about a kilometre into the camp, and that the presence of snipers prevented him from going any further and they were stuck in the middle.

He said everywhere buildings were destroyed.

"Around five women were lying outside because their home was destroyed," he said.

"It was not like you see on TV, it was very hard."

Walid Abdullah, a nurse taking care of casualties in the camp, said the situation was disastrous.

He said the bombardment from the army was targeting civilians and that three mosques were hit.

Was that last bit included in order to stir up Muslim passions over the Lebanese military's efforts to stomp out terrorists who have no problems hiding among civilian populations, let alone use mosques and schools as sanctuaries and ammo dumps?

UPDATE:
While the Lebanese military continues to surround the Fatah al Islam inside the Palestinian refugee camp in Tripoli, the AP has managed to embed with the terrorists. What we see is the terrorists roaming the streets freely and holing up in apartment buildings. The terrorists could care less that the buildings are targeted by the Lebanese military. Snapped Shot has more.

UPDATE:
This truce didn't last very long, and now we've got suicide bombers too. Fatah al Islam is using the same playbook that Islamic terrorists around the world have been using for years.