Sounds like this Rat Hunt is almost over
- From: "glen bu" <bumgmt@xxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2007 08:18:33 -0600
Lebanon army on 'final assault' - CNN.com
Lebanese troops advance towards fortified positions of Islamist militants
NAHR AL-BARED, Lebanon (Reuters) -- Lebanese troops advanced towards
fortified positions of Islamist militants at a Palestinian refugee camp on
Wednesday in what political sources said was the start of a final assault to
root out the gunmen.
Political sources say the troops' latest movement is the start of a final
assault to root out gunmen. Moving in under cover of artillery and tank
fire, soldiers killed at least three Fatah al-Islam militants at Nahr
al-Bared camp in north Lebanon, raising the overall death toll from two
months of fighting to at least 245, security sources said. "This is the
final phase of the military operation," one Lebanese political source said,
adding that he expected the army to capture the whole camp by the end of
this week. The source said there were about 100 people left inside the area
controlled by Fatah al-Islam -- 60 fighters and 40 civilians who include 24
wives of militants and 16 children. Palestinian and U.N. officials had
earlier put the number of civilians left in the hundreds. The Lebanese
source said some 200 civilians had left the camp in recent days. Witnesses
said soldiers blasted with tanks and artillery the last pockets of the
militants who have refused repeated calls to surrender. The fighting, which
began on May 20, is Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-1990
civil war. The conflict has further undermined stability in Lebanon,
already crippled by a prolonged political crisis and shaken by bombings that
have killed six U.N. peacekeepers and two anti-Syrian lawmakers in the past
eight months. "At its heaviest shortly after dawn, some 20 shells a minute
were hitting the camp," said one witness who watched the fighting from a
distance. "It was deafening." The militants hit back, firing a few Katyusha
rockets into areas outside the camp. The security sources said two soldiers
were wounded in the clashes. The Lebanese army's slow push into the
destroyed camp has cost the lives of 120 soldiers. More than 84 Fatah
al-Islam fighters and 41 civilians have also been killed. The army has
consistently demanded the unconditional surrender of the militants who had
attacked its positions around Nahr al-Bared on May 20, killing around 16
soldiers. Fatah al-Islam, which espouses al Qaeda's ideology but says it
has no direct links to Osama bin Laden's network, emerged last year after
breaking away from a Syrian-backed Palestinian faction. It has Lebanese,
Palestinians and other Arabs, including some Iraq war veterans, in its
ranks. The political sources said the military had rejected an offer from
Fatah al-Islam to put its Lebanese members in charge of the group in return
for safe passage of all non-Lebanese militants outside Lebanon, the
deployment of a Palestinian force in the camp and the retreat of the army
from the camp. The camp housed 40,000 refugees before the fighting began.
Most are now staying at other camps. Lebanon is home to some 400,000
Palestinian refugees, half of whom live in 12 camps.
Copyright 2007 Reuters.
.
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