Lebanon bombs militants’ hideout

LEBANESE troops bombed Islamic militants holed up in a Palestinian refugee camp yesterday, as mediators met senior military officials to discuss a possible ceasefire deal that would disarm the al-Qaida-inspired fighters.

The army unleashed artillery and tank barrages at suspected hideouts of Fatah Islam militants barricaded inside the Nahr el-Bared camp on the outskirts of Tripoli. Plumes of smoke rose from inside the camp and heavy gunfire rang out.

The month-long fighting in Nahr el-Bared comes amid a fierce power struggle between Lebanon’s Western-backed government and the opposition led by the militant Hezbollah group.

The Arab League’s secretary-general Amr Moussa warned that “time is running out” to resolve the political impasse that has paralysed Lebanon for months.

Even as the military tried to crush Fatah Islam’s remaining strongholds at the refugee camp, Palestinian mediators held talks with Lebanese military intelligence chief Brig George Khoury at the Defence Ministry near Beirut.

A Palestinian Muslim cleric, Sheik Mohammed Haj, said after meeting with Brig Khoury that he hoped for “a positive response” to the proposal. Sheik Mohammed and the Palestinian Scholars’ Association met earlier this week with Fatah Islam leaders and said the militants had agreed to the deal.

He refused to give details. Earlier, the private New TV station said it included disarming Fatah Islam’s dissolution, the return of refugees and takeover of the camp by other Palestinian factions.

However, a senior military official said the army would not accept any deal unless it included the handover of Fatah Islam militants.