The Lebanese Army pounded the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp yesterday with heavy artillery in the opening phase of a long-anticipated final offensive to destroy a band of Islamist militants.

Thick plumes of black smoke rose from the camp as fires that were caused by shelling raged out of control. Militants from Fatah al-Islam, who have declared that they will not surrender, fought back with mortars and machineguns.

The Lebanese Government appears to have taken the decision to end the bloody two-week stand-off between the army and Fatah al-Islam after protracted negotiations with Palestinian and Lebanese religious intermediaries failed to achieve a peaceful resolution. The fighting, in which 78 people have been killed and dozens more wounded, is the worst since the end of the civil war in 1990.

With Lebanon beset by deep political divisions and a worsening security climate, the violence in the north has presented a grave challenge to the authority of the Lebanese Government as well as the small, underequipped and largely untested army.

A row of parked armoured vehicles, filled with Lebanese special forces troops who were waiting for the order to deploy, lined the main coastal road near Nahr al-Bared. On a hill three miles to the east, 155mm artillery cannons fired shells that exploded among the cramped three and four-storey apartment buildings that comprise the camp. More heavy shells that were fired from army positions to the south cut through the hazy sky. Several artillery rounds overshot the camp and exploded in the sea.

“We want the army to go in and finish them off and we’re willing to go in with them,” said Ammar Beqay, 33, standing on the roof of his house to watch the fighting.

The residents of the small villages that are dotted around the camp are staunch supporters of Saad Hariri, the dominant Sunni Muslim politician in Lebanon. Fighters belonging to Mr Hariri’s Future Movement have been deployed alongside Lebanese troops in frontline positions surrounding the camp.

In the hilltop village of Hamra, a few hundred yards to the east of Nahr al-Bared, a squad of Lebanese soldiers was dug in among a thicket of pine trees. An old T-55 tank, partially hidden behind an earth berm, rocked every few seconds as it fired another round into the camp. A nearby soldier fired short measured bursts from a heavy machinegun.

The village was struck earlier in the morning by at least three mortar rounds fired by Fatah al-Islam. One exploded near the mosque and another on the roof of a house. “These people are not Muslims, they are a gang of terrorists,” Marwan Zaatar, 33, said.

More mortar shells exploded near Lebanese army positions north of the camp.

Last night the Lebanese Army said that it had succeeded in destroying the bases of Fatah al-Islam “and controlling them with firepower” while further tightening its grip on the camp and preventing the militants from escaping.

“The army command calls on the gunmen to surrender to justice, and underlines its determination to continue to track them down until this is achieved,” the statement said.

It said that the offensive had cleared Fatah al-Islam snipers from positions on the edges of the camp from where they had fired at soldiers and civilians.

“There were many casualties among their ranks, and some of them have fled while others have hidden among civilians in order to use them as human shields,” the army said.

Bilal Aslan, the head of the mainstream Fatah faction in Nahr al-Bared, said that between eight and ten of the militants had been killed during the day’s fighting, but added that Fatah al-Islam showed no sign of giving up. “We know they have a lot of ammunition and a lot of weapons. Their spirit remains high and they can continue for a while,” he told The Times by telephone from inside the camp.

Mr Aslan said that the 10,000 residents of Nahr al-Bared who remained were sheltering in basements of buildings or in the entrances of old bomb shelters. He said that medical facilities were almost nonexistent and that it was too dangerous to venture on to the streets.

He said: “There’s no food, no water, no electricity. We can’t hold out much longer like this.”

Build-up to battle

May 20 Lebanese security forces investigating a bank robbery raid a building in Tripoli. Fatah al-Islam militants resist arrest and attack army posts surrounding Nahr el-Bared refugee camp. At least 50 people are killed

May 21 The Army, under a long-standing agreement not to enter the camp, shell suspected militant positions from outside, while fending off attacks

May 22 Lebanon accuses Syria of being behind the attacks, which it denies

May 23 Lull in fighting, thousands of civilians flee the camp

May 26 US ships in military aid for Lebanese Army, as fighting continues

May 28 Army posts shelled by militants still holed up in the camp

May 30 Twenty people are charged with terrorism, linked to the ongoing attacks

Source: Agencies

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