Elementor landing recent post test – Page 2176

DNA khazen family

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August 20, 2007

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Three months on, Lebanese army still battling Islamists

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August 18, 2007

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Sylvie Groult, AFP, August 17, 2007, NAHR AL BARED, Lebanon -- Three months into the deadly standoff between the Lebanese army and Islamist guerrillas holed up in a refugee camp, troops are still battling to crush an unexpectedly well-armed and well-organized enemy. Located along the Mediterranean coast near the northern city of Tripoli, the Nahr Al Bared camp, today, is but an apocalyptic scene of twisted steel and ruins. The red-and-white Lebanese flag flutters here and there as a sign of the army's advance.

Black-and-white smoke hangs over the skeletal buildings that heave at the impact of each mortar round, or from the explosion of mines spread by the Fatah Al Islam fighters all over the sprawling camp. The army, in the last week, has resorted to air attacks in a bid to flush out the estimated 70 militants thought to be still hiding in subterranean shelters, along with some 100 women and children.

"We are using airstrikes, as shelling them with tank fire is no longer effective or sufficient," said an army spokesman. "We are trying to clear the small area around where the Islamists are holed up, so that our tanks and military equipment can get through." The drawn-out battle, which has claimed the lives of more than 200 people, including 136 soldiers, has taken even the war-hardened Lebanese by surprise.

Defense minister Elias Murr mistakenly announced an end to the fighting at the end of June, but has, since, kept a low profile, refusing to make a prognosis as to when the standoff may end. On the battle front, troops continue to slowly clear the camp's sinuous streets of booby-traps and mines, as they try to seize the last, tiny area still controlled by the Islamists. The camp's 31,000 Palestinian refugees fled at the start of the fighting May 20, leaving behind the Al Qaeda-inspired militants who infiltrated into Lebanon and took up positions inside Nahr Al Bared last year.

Lebanese vote to replace killed leaders

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August 7, 2007

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By ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press Writer 9 PM ET BIKFAYA, Lebanon - Despite fears of violence, tens of thousands of Lebanese voted peacefully Sunday to replace two assassinated lawmakers

Polls in divided Lebanon test for presidential vote

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August 3, 2007

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BEIRUT -- Rival Lebanese factions face off this weekend in disputed elections to replace two slain MPs, in a showdown seen as a test for the country's divided Christian factions ahead of presidential polls. Sunday's by-elections are being held to replace two MPs killed earlier this year in attacks blamed by the Western-backed ruling majority on former powerbroker Damascus, which backs the Lebanese opposition.

The campaign leading up to the polls has exacerbated tensions within the Christian camp, which has been divided since the November resignation of six pro-Syrian cabinet ministers. The polls also come amid an 11-week standoff at a Palestinian refugee camp between the army and Islamists.

The two MPs being replaced are industry minister Pierre Gemayel, a Christian member of parliament who was gunned down in a Beirut suburb November 21, and Sunni Muslim MP Walid Eido, killed in a car bombing in the capital June 13. Although the elections to replace Eido in Beirut are virtually guaranteed to be won by the candidate of the ruling majority, the vote in the Metn region, a Christian stronghold northeast of the capital, has the country in suspense. Former president Amine Gemayel is vying to replace his son, Pierre, while the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) of Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun has presented Camille Khoury, a doctor, as its candidate.

Observers say that the election outcome will be an indicator as to which way the Christian camp is leaning ahead of presidential elections to replace pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud by a November 25 deadline.
Parliament elects the president, traditionally a Maronite Christian, while the prime minister is a Sunni Muslim and the speaker of parliament a Shiite Muslim. "Aoun wants to prove that he is the only representative of the Christians and therefore the candidate for the presidential elections," Joseph Abu Khalil, an aid to Gemayel, said.

But Antoine Nasrallah, spokesman for the FPM, said that the vote will set the record straight as to which leader is more popular and where the presidential elections are headed. "If Gemayel fails, he will lose any chance for the presidential elections ... and if Gemayel wins, he will kill any ambition for Aoun to become president," Nasrallah said. He added that he was confident that his camp will win Sunday "by a good margin."