Lebanon army pounds Palestinian camp after militants kill 2 soldiers
The army and Fatah al-Islam militants have battled at the coastal Nahr al-Bared camp for nearly eight weeks.
By The Associated PressLebanese troops shelled a Palestinian refugee camp in north Lebanon on Thursday after Al Qaeda-inspired militants killed two soldiers there, security sources said.
The army and Fatah al-Islam militants have battled at the coastal Nahr al-Bared camp for nearly eight weeks. At least 207 people have been killed, making it Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war.
Security and political sources said on Wednesday the army, concerned about being sucked into a war of attrition, had decided to mount an all-out assault on the camp to root out the militants, who have defied demands that they surrender.
Witnesses said the army was bombarding the camp from all sides, often at a rate of 7 to 10 artillery shells per minute. Black smoke billowed from inside the camp's bombed-out, smouldering buildings.
But a military source denied that Thursday's fighting was the "decisive" battle.
"These are normal daily operations and in response to sniper fire by the Fatah al-Islam militants," he said.
"The army's response is in the framework of tightening the noose on remaining elements of Fatah al-Islam inside the camp."
But Thursday's fighting was the most ferocious since the Lebanese defense minister declared late last month that all major combat operations had ceased at Nahr al-Bared.
Security sources said two Lebanese soldiers were killed by sniper fire in the clashes that started early in the morning, bringing the total army death toll to 89.
Seventy-five militants and 43 civilians have also been killed in the fighting that began on May 20.
The violence has further undermined stability in Lebanon, where a paralyzing eight-month-old political crisis has been compounded by bombings in and around Beirut.
The government says Fatah al-Islam is a tool of Syria, a charge Damascus and the militants deny. The group says it has no organizational ties with Al-Qaeda, but supports its ideology.
Some of its members - mainly Lebanese, Palestinians, Syrians and Saudis - have fought in Iraq. Security sources say at least 10 Saudis are among the dead militants.
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where's the moral outrage? ben alofs, mark lincoln, tosefta, sh, tzfonit, lakshmi, axel, johnboy, hannah, labhras, janice, ibrahim, boycott, ballistic, the list goes on and on in no particular order, the yeled tov mi yerushalyim, linthwaite, viper, are all silent, what a surprise. arabs killing arabs....no problem. arabs killing jews.... no problem. jews killing arabs.... OYYYYY VAYYYYYY. where's amnesty international? where's UN human rights commission? The silence is deafening and goes a long way to why opinions of the above crew have such little weight.
It is indeed encouraging to witness recent actions taken by the authorities in Pakistan and Lebanon. The maxim should be, it seems to me, that there is nothing to discuss with armed bigots and theocrats save the logisitics of their disarming. This is so whether the bigots or theocrats be 'David Koresh' style 'Christians' in the USA, violent Hindu 'movements' in India, Nazis and 'neo-Nazis' in Europe, or self-described 'Muslims' of one benighted sort or another. It seems to me that the US and its allies should spend less time and resources occupying places like Iraq and instead be seeking out bigot groups of the kind mentioned and disarming or destroying them. Let us hope that Pakistan now turns to its Northwest and the 'madrassas' more generally, leaving no living bigot or theocrat armed.
Comparing India and Pakistan is chalk and cheese although there are Hindu extremists and Moslem moderates the fact remains that terrorism throughout the world is 90% Islamic. Sad that they are called Fundamentalists. I would prefer to think that the fundamentals of Islam have a more humane message. Islamic moderates have a difficult task. There is not one Moslem country where they can speak out without fear of being beaten up or much worse. The Israel Arab conflict could have been been solved fifty years ago. Arabs willing to accept mutual compromise that would give a decent life to those living in the territories are murdered as collaborators. This in order to perpetuate the struggle and achieve the goal of Israel's annihilation no matter how unrealistic and at what cost to generations of Arabs kept in squalid conditions. The billions of dollars received in foreign aid have been used for 'arming the struggle' rather than feeding housing and educating a growing population
Question: Two months worth of shelling, and relatively speaking, very little or no news coverage? Another question: Where is the sanctimonious world outrage? Yet one more question? Can anyone imagine the world hysteria for even "a single similar accidental" act by the IDF? Deja vu? Yes? No?
Indeed, the world would have no idea who the Palestinians were but for the fact that their conflict is with Israel, a Jewish state. Actually, the Palestinians would have never considered themselves "a people" but for the fact that they had a common enemy, the Jewish community of Eretz Yisrael and they set out to negate its existence and its right to be.
and I wonder, why dosen't Amnest call to investigate this!?... hhmmm...
1. The camps in N Lebanon are not comparable to the Red Mosque in size or in the ability of the state security forces to isolate them or sparate civilians from militants. 2. India started independance with Ghandi; Pakistan with Jinah. The differences follow from that although you would have to be extremely dim to dismiss the rise of Hindu extremism in present-day India. 3/4 Black and white approaches to problems rarely yeild results that benefit anyone. 5. Good point. The world would be more interested if the IDF had notched up a similarly large civilian death toll in the occupied territories. However you will note the Lebanese army has suffered higher casualties than the civilians killed whereas most IDF engagements result in more dead civilians than soldiers.
the Lebanese Army does! But Lebanon is not a Jewish state, therefore few people are interested in events there as long as the Jews are not involved. Indeed, the world would know who the Palestinians were if it were not for the fact that they have chosen to have a conflict with the Jewish community and with the Jewish state. Palestinians, see how fortunate you are. People now know who you are.
Who'll be the war criminals here? it couldn't be Lebanese who did it! They have militias to take all the blame for whatever they do and if it's not them, why, it's a foreign conspiracy.
The phrase "learn from Pakistan" sounds a bit odd. Pakistan is a failed state, a theocratic hellhole and within a couple of years Talibanistas will have taken it over and gained access to their 'Islamic bomb'. I'd rather learn from India. They were both cut from exactly the same cloth in '48, one is rapidly becoming a global superpower and centre of innovation, the other is a large toilet...
STORM THE CAMP LIKE THE PAKISTANI ARMY STORMED THE MOSQUE + SCHOOL COMPOUND AND KILL THOSE THAT REFUSE TO ABIDE BY THE RULE OF LAW AFTER AN ULTIMATUM TO UNCONDITIONALLY SURRENDER!