Refugee camp conflict spreads

Clashes between Lebanese troops and Islamic militants spread today to Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp in the south, underlining the complexities the country faces in trying to defeat al Qaida-inspired fighters who are battling a continuing army onslaught in a northern camp.

Two Lebanese soldiers and a fighter were killed in the clashes between the army and Jund al-Sham Islamic militants in the refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh in Sidon, southern Lebanon.

Palestinian factions have formed a security force to ease the tension, but a senior Fatah Islam commander in the northern Nahr el-Bared refugee camp pledged to take the battle to Ein el-Hilweh, Lebanon’s largest refugee camp.

The 16-days of fighting between the army and Fatah Islam have killed more than 100 people, the worst internal violence since the end of the 1975-90 civil war.

In Nahr el-Bared near the northern port city of Tripoli, the army resumed its pounding of militant hideouts with artillery after sporadic exchanges earlier in the day, sending up plumes of black smoke. The military also rolled additional armour into Nahr el-Bared in an apparent bid to push deeper into the camp.

The army has been blasting Fatah Islam positions since May 20, but scaled up its offensive Friday to crush the al Qaida-inspired militants. The government has demanded that Fatah Islam surrender, but the militants have vowed to fight to death.

Ten Lebanese soldiers have been killed at Nahr el-Bared and 44 others wounded since Friday, including four hurt by a mortar shell today, raising the army’s death toll to 45 at Nahr el-Bared and two at Ein el-Hilweh.

At least 20 civilians and about 60 militants have also been killed in the northern Lebanon fighting, but civilian casualties in the camp in the last four days were unknown. The International Red Cross today evacuated a wounded civilian and 17 women and children who wished to leave the camp.

The bombardment of Nahr el-Bared has angered Palestinians in some of Lebanon’s 11 other refugee camps. It is believed that militants who attacked the army at Ein el-Hilweh were seeking to take the military pressure off their Fatah Islam allies.

The trouble in Ein el-Hilweh began yesterday evening when Jund al-Sham militants began targeting army checkpoints surrounding the camp with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic rifles.

Troops returned machine gun and cannon fire. Fighting picked up overnight and resumed briefly this morning.

Two Lebanese soldiers were killed and five wounded in the clashes. One Jund al-Sham official was wounded, and several houses belonging to members of the group were burned down by army shells, Lebanese security and Palestinian officials said.

Today, Palestinian police stood alongside Lebanese troops at the camp’s entrance to prevent attacks. Secular Palestinian factions complained that Islamic groups were shielding the militants, and residents worried whether violence would resume.

Residents who fled fighting last night returned briefly to the camp today to pick up a few belongings. Militiamen of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah faction hung out on the main street on the camp’s northern edge, eyeing bearded gunmen standing in side-streets.

“There’s horror every day here – bombs, shootings,” said Suzanne Ajawi, 26, who was nine months pregnant. She carried a plastic bag of baby clothes and milk.

The Ein el-Hilweh clashes underscored the complexities of fighting militants in Palestinian refugee camps, where the crowded towns have become havens for extremists and criminals.

The army does not enter Palestinian refugee camps under a nearly 40-year-old arrangement whereby Palestinians run their own affairs. Ein el-Hilweh, home to some 60,000, is notorious for its lawlessness, and neighbourhoods are run by rival factions.

Jund al-Sham, based in Ein el-Hilweh and believed to number in the dozens, has claimed responsibility or been blamed for a number of bombings and gunbattles, mainly in Lebanon and Syria.

Fatah Islam’s deputy leader today pledged to spread the militant group’s battle with the Lebanese army to Ein el-Hilweh.

“Soon there will be an official statement in the name of Fatah Islam partisans, and we will start to see an expansion (of the fighting in the north), and there will be a similar military situation there (in Ein el-Hilweh),” Abu Hureira said by mobile phone from his hideout in Nahr el-Bared.

Most of Nahr el-Bared’s 31,000 people have fled to a nearby camp.

The UN Relief and Works Agency today launched an appeal for 12.7 million US dollars to address the urgent needs of more than 27,000 Palestinian refugees displaced by the northern fighting.