Posted on 06/04/2007 1:11:43 PM PDT by NYer
Deadly firefights in a Palestinian camp in south Lebanon and a bus bombing in the capital opened new fronts for the army on Monday as it battles to crush an Al-Qaeda-inspired militia in a 16-day standoff in the north of the country.
Residents were plunged into panic by the gunbattles between the army and Sunni Muslim extremists which first flared late Sunday near Ain al-Helweh, the largest of Lebanon's 12 refugee camps in the southern city of Sidon.
Two soldiers and two militants were killed and 11 wounded, a military spokesman said, and dozens of families fled to safety before calm was restored later Monday.
But in the evening a bomb went off under a public bus parked in Christian east Beirut wounding at least 10 bystanders, a security source said.
The explosion in the mixed residential and industrial district of Sed al-Baushrieh was the fourth to rock Lebanon since the clashes between the army and the Islamists broke out on May 20 and Information Minister Ghazi Aridi was swift to link the two.
"The bombings and the clashes are connected," he said after an emergency cabinet meeting.
Footage broadcast by Lebanese television showed the bus had been burned out by the force of the explosion. Several parked cars and the facade of a nearby shopping centre were also badly damaged.
The security source said that one suspect had been arrested as police cordoned off the area.
Three people were killed by bombs placed on two buses in a Christian region north of Beirut in February.
The new violence came as Lebanese troops again pounded Fatah al-Islam gunmen in the Nahr al-Bared camp near the northern port city of Tripoli in a standoff that has left more than 100 people dead.
In a bid to contain the latest unrest, the army deployed more armoured vehicles around Ain al-Helweh and boosted security in Sidon where schools were closed and many shops remained shut.
The fighting pitted troops against gunmen from Jund al-Sham (Soldiers of Damascus), a little known group mainly made up of Islamist Lebanese extremists, some of them wanted.
Palestinian factions, which have sole control over security in Ain al-Helweh as in all other camps across the country, were in contact with Lebanese authorities to try to end the confrontation, local officials told AFP.
The latest flareup has fuelled concerns the violence could spread to more of the 12 camps which hold more than half of the 400,000 Palestinians in Lebanon, mostly in conditions of abject poverty, and have become breeding grounds for extremism.
In all, 108 people have been killed in 16 days of bloodshed, the deadliest internal feuding since the 1975-1990 civil war that has added to tensions in a country already in the grip of an acute political crisis.
Jund al-Sham, which has no clear hierarchy or particular leader, is believed to have about 50 militants armed with assault rifles, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.
In north Lebanon, army troops including about 1,000 crack commandos were tightening the noose around the militants holed up in Nahr al-Bared, where both sides are vowing to fight to the end.
After a lull in exchanges during the day, tanks and artillery launched a major bombardment on Monday evening against the squalid camp, where Fatah al-Islam is still holding out in the face of superior firepower.
"We will never surrender... we will fight till the last drop of blood," Fatah al-Islam spokesman Abu Salim Taha told Al-Jazeera television on Sunday.
Prime Minister Fuad Siniora has warned Fatah al-Islam to surrender or be wiped out.
Washington announced that it was considering sending more supplies to the Lebanese army after Congress last month approved a seven-fold increase in military assistance for 2007 to 280 million dollars.
"There are some additional items that are already under consideration that we are talking about with the Lebanese forces," said US national security adviser Stephen Hadley.
The earlier US aid package had already drawn strong criticism from Russia whose Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned of its potential to "destabilize" Lebanon.
It is not known whether the army is planning a ground assault on Nahr al-Bared. By longstanding convention, it does not enter Lebanon's Palestinian refugee camps, leaving security inside to militant groups.
Fatah al-Islam, a tiny but well-armed band of Sunni extremists which first surfaced only last year, is believed to have about 250 fighters, according to the prime minister.
The summer offensive of the Axis of Evil has now begun..going to be a bumpy ride..
Owl_Eagle
If what I just wrote made you sad or angry,
it was probably just a joke.
Fasten your seatbelts . . .
Okay, have it your way.................
I pray the Lebanese Army can crush this latest eruption of the virus that is radical islam. Lebanon has gone from a jewel of the Middle East to a battlefield in one generation, and once again, islam is the cause. These people trash every place they go and turn it into a stinking hellhole fit only for their own rotten, filthy tribes. Everywhere they go, they rip the lid off of hell for all to see into its putrid maw, and I fail to see why anyone still thinks that negotiation, appeasement, and the promise of “peaceful coexistence” are viable approaches to dealing with them and their foul perversion of a religion.
This is a classical operation against a built-up area (MOUT).
The built-up zone is centered at 34deg 30min 48sec North and 35deg 57min 49sec East in Google Earth. The picture posted by NYer shows the straight two-lane hiway going south west-North east to the east of this built-up area. Watch the civilian traffic on the picture, isn’t this amazing so close to the combat area?
Does anybody know what has gotten into the Lebanese army. Somebody must have really helped it. Last summer they said it was useless. Now it seems tough and effective.
“Does anybody know what has gotten into the Lebanese army. Somebody must have really helped it. Last summer they said it was useless. Now it seems tough and effective.”
Yeah, their President decided that Hezbollah was the bad guys after they launched an unprovoked war against Israel last summer. Out of the UN Resolution on the cease fire, you got a rapid deployment of special forces and equipment from Nato and other Western powers.
It is not known whether the army is planning a ground assault on Nahr al-Bared. By longstanding convention, it does not enter Lebanon’s Palestinian refugee camps, leaving security inside to militant groups.
Gee, there’s the way to deal with it....
/s
Thankls. I guess that is just a part of the bumper sticker GWOT, right?
Thanks. I guess that is just a part of the bumper sticker GWOT, right?
Thanks. I guess that is just a part of the bumper sticker GWOT, right?
Can you post a pic of Google Earth ??,,,I’ve been foolin’ with this for a week,,,direction from a landmark ??
I tried copy and paste~Nahr al-Bared~ 34deg 30min 48sec North and 35deg 57min 49sec East,,,got nothing,,,Duh !...;0)
Unfortunately I do not know how to post a picture. But you can navigate to this point by turning the globe and zooming in till you arrive to the eastern shore of the mediterranean sea, it is just 10 miles on the shore N-E the town of Tripoli. And check the coordinates on the ruler below the picture to see if you get to the proper spot.
Sorry for that but I am not a computer geek.
How close are you to where this bomb exploded? Abouna’s mother lives nearby and was pretty shaken up by the explosion.
TANKS a Bunch...me lost...;0)
Perhaps some financial aid. According to the above article.
Washington announced that it was considering sending more supplies to the Lebanese army after Congress last month approved a seven-fold increase in military assistance for 2007 to 280 million dollars.
W is helping them
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