EGYPT: Lebanon's PM Siniora meets Egypt's Mubarak in Cairo and defends his army's actions in north Lebanon

Record ID: 644733

  • Title: EGYPT: Lebanon's PM Siniora meets Egypt's Mubarak in Cairo and defends his army's actions in north Lebanon
  • Date: 30th June 2007
  • Summary: (W3) CAIRO, EGYPT (JUNE 30, 2007) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF EGYPTIAN PRESIDENTIAL PALACE
  • Embargoed: 15th July 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Egypt
  • Country: Egypt
  • Topics: International Relations,Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVAAQ9M85G0QB1TS4LHC7M9ETHFF
  • Story Text: Lebanon's Prime Minister meets Egypt's Mubarak and defends his army's actions a day after Lebanese troops fired at Palestinian civilians demanding to return to their homes at a refugee camp besieged by Lebanese forces. Lebanon's Prime Minister defended his army's actions on Saturday (June 30), a day after Lebanese troops fired at Palestinian civilians demanding to return to their homes at a refugee camp besieged by Lebanese forces, killing three protesters and wounding 50 according to witnesses and hospital sources.
    At least 86 soldiers, 75 militants and 43 civilians have now been killed in the fighting in north Lebanon -- mainly at the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp but also in nearby areas.
    Fouad Al-Siniora, who is meeting with Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak, said the army's attack on the camp was directed at terrorists from the al-Qaeda inspired Fatah al-Islam group.
    The witnesses said the soldiers opened fire first into the air as hundreds of refugees, including women and children, tried to storm through an army checkpoint and head to Nahr al-Bared camp, scene of nearly six weeks of intense fighting.
    Today in Cairo Al-Siniora said the army was fighting terrorists who had appropriated the Palestinian cause and the name of Islam in their fight.
    "I would like to assert here that the battle Lebanon is waging is not a battle between the Lebanese and Palestinians. It is a battle between the Lebanese and Palestinians on the one hand and a terrorist group on the other. And we are looking out for interests our Palestinian families who were living in the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, for whom and with whom we have striven, and to guarantee the process of getting rid of this terrorist group, that has appropriated the phrase Fatah, and also the phrase Islam. And both of them have absolutely no connection with what this terrorist group is doing, which has adopted the methods of violence, murder and crime," he said.
    Friday's incident will likely increase tensions at Lebanon's 11 other Palestinian refugee camps -- already close to boiling point over fighting in north Lebanon that has killed 204 people.
    Much of the camp, originally home to 40,000 refugees, has been destroyed and mines and booby traps litter its buildings and alleys. The fighting is Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war.
    Siniora aimed to allay fears of a rift with Syria, with whom the current Lebanese government has clashed over a UN inquiry into the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
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