By HUSSEIN DAKROUB, Associated Press Writer, BEIRUT, Lebanon Jun 18 – Fierce fighting erupted Monday at a besieged Palestinian refugee camp as Lebanese troops resumed bombardment of al-Qaida-inspired militants barricaded inside. Three Lebanese soldiers were killed, a senior military official said.
Troops, backed by heavy artillery and tank fire, blasted suspected hideouts of the Fatah Islam militants inside the Nahr el-Bared camp on the outskirts of the northern port city of Tripoli, as the battle against the militants entered its fifth week, witnesses said.The intense bombardment sent thick black and white smoke billowing into the air and started fires in several shell-punctured buildings in the camp. The senior military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to make official statements, declined to give details on how the three soldiers were killed. The official also said an undetermined number of soldiers were wounded. Meanwhile in southern Lebanon, an explosion killed two people at Ein el-Hilweh, Lebanon’s largest Palestinian camp, as members of another Islamic militant group tried to prepare a bomb, Lebanese security officials said.
In Sunday’s clashes, troops entirely destroyed the militants’ main headquarters located on the edge of the camp, according to the state-run National News Agency. But the whereabouts of Fatah Islam leader Shaker Youssef al-Absi and his top aides remain unknown.After inspecting troops deployed around the Nahr el-Bared camp, Lebanese Army Commander Gen. Michel Suleiman said Sunday that the decision to eliminate the Fatah Islam militants was "final and irreversible."
JERUSALEM (AP)
BEIRUT, Lebanon -Jun 15 Lebanese troops raided an Islamic militant position inside a besieged Palestinian refugee camp, sparking a battle that killed at least four soldiers Friday in renewed fighting.Troops unleashed artillery barrages into the Nahr el-Bared camp on the outskirts of the northern city of Tripoli on Friday as they stepped up their four-week assault against Fatah Islam the al-Qaida-inspired militant group barricaded inside.
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Some thousands mourners chanted anti-Syrian slogans on Thursday at the funeral of a Lebanese legislator killed in a car bomb attack that increased tension with Damascus and deepened Lebanon’s political crisis. Walid Eido was the seventh 14 March figure figure to be assassinated since February 2005 when former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri was killed in a suicide truck bombing. Allies of Eido blamed his killing on Damascus and said it was Syria’s response to the establishment of a U.N.-backed court to try suspects in the Hariri attack. There was no Syrian comment but a U.N. envoy visiting Damascus said after talks with officials that Syria condemned Wednesday’s bombing near a Beirut beach club in which Eido, his eldest son, two bodyguards and six passers-by were killed. These accusations lack all credibility. The Syrians are not going to respond every time the finger is pointed without any basis at Damascus," a source close to the Syrian government said.
BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) june 13 — A member of the Lebanese parliament was killed in an explosion Wednesday outside a Beirut military sports club in what hospital sources called an assassination. Lawmaker Walid Eido, known as a foe of Syrian involvement in Lebanon, his son, Khalid, and two of his bodyguards were killed, Lebanese media reports said. At least six other people died and 11 were wounded in the explosion, believed to be from a car bomb, in the seaside neighborhood of Manara, according to Lebanese security sources.
Golf news, Beirut: Lebanese Christians, wary of the rise of militant Islam in their country, will have to retaliate if they are targeted, a leading politician warned yesterday.The warning by former president Ameen Gemayel, also the leader of the Christian-dominated Phalange Party came as Lebanese soldiers and militants entrenched in a refugee camp fought gunbattles yesterday after at least 17 people were killed in an operation to storm rebel positions.
By HUSSEIN DAKROUB, June 11 Associated Press Writer, BEIRUT, Lebanon – Lebanese troops exchanged sporadic gunfire with Islamic militants holed up in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon on Monday as the war against al-Qaida-inspired fighters entered its fourth week. The intermittent fighting came a day after heavy clashes erupted when the Lebanese army stepped up its bombardment of Fatah Islam militants barricaded in the Nahr el-Bared camp on the outskirts of the northern city of Tripoli. The leading An-Nahar newspaper reported Monday that "the Nahr el-Bared battle is headed toward a big escalation," saying the Lebanese military had brought in new reinforcements, including more effective artillery and additional naval forces, while pro-Syrian Palestinian factions had joined Fatah Islam militants in their fight.
