Lebanon : Fatah al-Islam fires rockets into civilian areas
The Daily Star (Lebanon) ^ | 07/14/2007 | Hani M. Bathish
dailystar.com.lb
BEIRUT: In a unexpected escalation in fighting at Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, Fatah al-Islam militants fired on Friday at least 15 107mm Katyusha rockets at towns surrounding the camp. A Lebanese Army statement said random rockets fired from inside the camp left one civilian dead and several others wounded.
An army source told The Daily Star that between seven and nine rockets had been fired at intervals towards Minyeh, Arqa, Beit Hadara and Deir Ammar Friday morning, wounding at least three civilians.
"It looks like they found these rockets abandoned inside the camp and are using them, hopefully they don't have many of them," the source said.
The National News Agency reported another seven rockets landed in Qa'brin and the surrounding areas Friday evening, an area seven kilometers from the camp.
The army confirmed that two Lebanese Army soldiers had died in fresh fighting on Friday: Corporal Ali Awad Kanaan, born 1980; and Corporal Arkan Kamal Akl, born 1985. The deaths brought the total number of soldiers killed to 92.
Clashes Friday centered around the Safouri and Saasaa neighborhoods inside the camp. The army surrounded a group of militants in a shelter in Safouri, cutting them off, as soldiers continued to advance on all fronts, supported by artillery which pounded militants in the southwestern sector of the camp.
The army statement said soldiers have taken control of several buildings inside the camp that had been used by Fatah al-Islam snipers. Army engineers are working to clear the buildings of mines and booby-traps, and clear blocked roads in the camp, the statement said. The army source said booby-traps have slowed progress: "They have booby trapped everything, dynamite is everywhere."
The National News Agency reported that one rocket that landed in the town center of Deir Ammar, east of the camp, slightly wounded two residents, Khaled Khodr Eid and Khadija Ahmad Eid.
The rocket also damaged two vehicles, a Mercedes owned by Nabil Eid and a BMW owned by Fouad Eid. Three rockets also struck Minyeh. Two landed in an orange grove while another set a car on fire.
Retired General Elias Hanna told The Daily Star on Friday that the militants' escalation will not affect the final outcome of the conflict.
"Its not an escalation in the military operational sense," Hanna said. "They could have fired them out of desperation or for their psychological impact."
He said what is clear is that Fatah al-Islam still has "the minimum of a command structure" with at least one man in control that allows them to keep fighting.
"What the army is doing is softening the ground. They are either preparing for the final battle or they are using a salami or artichoke strategy, taking small chunks of the camp at a time, which is more likely," he said.
Hanna said the attack on civilians would rally the people even more behind the army because it shows the militants are nothing more than terrorists.
Eight weeks of fighting in the North have left local residents weary and the Lebanese Army more determined to end the Fatah al-Islam phenomenon in any way possible. Since fighting broke out on May 20, 216 people have been killed.
Stepping up pressure to force militants to surrender, the army used tanks and artillery to bombard the camp on Friday. Militants responded with sniper and rocket fire. The army statement called the militants' refusal to allow their families to leave the camp "inhumane." |
