A Good Sign.
Lebanese forces continue to stand down the Fatah al-Islam terrorists at Nahr El Bared refugee camp. The military has been bombarding the terror group’s positions from land, sea, and even air. (An-Nahar shows a Lebanese soldier in the ruins.)
Lebanon officials say the military is close to crushing all of the Fatah al-Islam terrorists held up in the Nahr al-Bared camp near Tripoli.
Reuters reported:
Lebanese troops tightened the noose around al Qaeda-inspired militants at a Palestinian refugee camp in north Lebanon on Monday, where the army made major advances after a month of fighting.
A Lebanese security source and a Palestinian political source said the army appeared to be close to its main goal of crushing all of Fatah al-Islam’s positions on the outskirts of the coastal Nahr al-Bared camp.
“The army is close to controlling all the areas outside the (official) boundaries of the camp,” the security source said, expecting the operation to end in next few days. “It is not going to enter the camp.”
A Palestinian source said efforts were under way to arrange a ceasefire that would put the army in full control of all the outskirts of the camp and the militants restricted to a small part of it. Negotiations would then begin over the fate of the remaining militants.
Abu Kais has more on the fighting.
In related news… 14 were charged with setting up a terrorist cell in east Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley town of Bar Elias today. The detainees were a Saudi, two Syrians and six Lebanese.