LEBANON: Fragile truce between Lebanese troops and Islamist militants allows aid to enter refugee camp

Record ID: 345411

  • Title: LEBANON: Fragile truce between Lebanese troops and Islamist militants allows aid to enter refugee camp
  • Date: 22nd May 2007
  • Summary: MORE OF PEOPLE FLEEING FROM THE GUNFIRE
  • Embargoed: 6th June 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Lebanon
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Topics: Social Services / Welfare
  • Reuters ID: LVA7X31RH8Q3QR0NGRJ7RB1VEGNB
  • Story Text: A fragile truce allowed aid trucks to enter a battered Palestinian refugee camp in north Lebanon on Tuesday (May 22) after three days of fierce battles between Lebanese army troops and Islamist militants.
    Civilians took advantage of the lull to pack their cars and flee, flying white flags from their windows. Reuters correspondent saw two wounded people lying in pools of blood in the street.
    But a number of aid workers were forced to leave when shells exploded near their convoy, wounding at least two people. A U.N. convoy had to withdraw amid sporadic blasts and gunfire.
    Residents begged journalists to evacuate them. A man trying to carry a wounded woman to safety had to leave her in the street when bullets began flying.
    Heavy fighting at Nahr al-Bared camp, home to 40,000 people near the northern city of Tripoli, raged from dawn until the afternoon. The army has been attacking Fatah al-Islam, an al Qaeda-inspired Sunni group based in the camp since last year.
    Clashes died down after Fatah al-Islam said it would cease fire if the army did the same.
    The United Nations used the lull to try to deliver food, water and medical supplies to the camp.
    Shocked camp residents emerged from their homes to see the destruction. Shell fire had torn huge holes in buildings. Gunmen roamed the rubble-strewn street. No casualty toll was available.
    U.N. aid trucks had waited for hours to enter the camp. When they finally drove in, some residents threw stones at the trucks, furious that they had taken so long to arrive.
    At least 22 militants, 32 soldiers and 27 civilians have been killed since the army and Fatah al-Islam began fighting on Sunday, making it Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war. Fifty-five soldiers have also been wounded.
    In Beirut, a bomb exploded in a shopping area in a mainly Sunni Muslim area on Monday night, wounding at least seven people. It appeared to mirror a blast on Sunday that killed a woman and wounded 10 people in a mainly Christian district.
    A faxed statement in the name of Fatah al-Islam claimed responsibility for the blasts and threatened more. But group spokesman Abu Salim denied it was involved.
    Linking the attacks with U.N. moves to set up a tribunal to to try suspects in political assassinations in Lebanon, a French Foreign Ministry spokesman said the international community was "determined not to let itself be intimidated".
    Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's government has said it wants to root out Fatah al-Islam, which it sees as a tool of Syria -- something denied by Damascus and the group itself.
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