'Free hand' for Lebanon army to hit militants
Pastor Dale Morgan
'Free hand' for Lebanon army to hit militants*
By Harry de Quetteville in Nahr al-Bared
Last Updated: 12:33am BST 27/05/2007
Palestinians race for shelter while peering over their shoulders at an
Israeli missile [circled]. A cloud of dust rises after the bomb explodes
The Lebanese army has been given carte blanche to storm an Islamic
militant hideout in the north of the country after yesterday receiving
new equipment from the United States.
The supplies, consisting of bombs, bullets and body armour, are also
believed to include night vision equipment which could prove crucial in
the widely expected battle for Nahr al-Bared, the Palestinian refugee camp.
Hundreds of al-Qa'eda sympathisers, calling themselves Fatah al-Islam,
have been besieged in the camp, 60 miles north of Beirut, since Sunday
by the poorly equipped Lebanese army.
"The army has carte blanche to go in and finish Fatah al-Islam," said
Ahmed Fatfat, a senior Lebanese cabinet minister yesterday.
The comments came as a separate extremist group calling itself al-Qa'eda
in the Levant promised to start a campaign of bombings unless the
Lebanese army withdrew from around the camp.
"No crusader will be safe in Lebanon after today. As you hit you will be
hit. If you do not stop we will wrench out your hearts with ... bombs,"
the group said in a statement.
United Nations agencies estimate that up to 20,000 of the sprawling
camp's 40,000 population remain inside, either unwilling, unable or too
scared to leave.
The tide of refugees pouring from the camp earlier in the week dried up
completely yesterday.
"To attack the camp is very difficult," said Mr Fatfat, who comes from
one of northern Lebanon's biggest families. "With its narrow alleys and
dense population it is perfect for guerrilla warfare. So we want the
civilians to leave, but if they don't leave we will have to go in
anyway," he said.
He said that the Lebanese army had asked for night vision equipment,
which could allow its special army units to raid the camp under cover of
darkness rather than resort to heavy weaponry and risk major civilian
casualties.
Many fear that a civilian bloodbath could prompt uprisings in Lebanon's
other refugee camps, home to up to 400,000 Palestinians, destabilising
the whole country.
But an army success could have a very positive effect.
In recent times the Lebanese army has been seen as largely
pro-Christian, just another faction in a country that also includes the
Shia fighters of Hizbollah as well as Sunni Muslim militias.
But in its current battle with Fatah al-Islam it has received
widespread, multi-faith support within Lebanon, as well as the crucial
support of other Arab nations - who also flew in materiel to Beirut
yesterday.
"The army has always been seen as a tool of Christian power in Lebanon,"
said Mr Fatfat, a Sunni Muslim with close ties to Rafiq al-Hariri, the
assassinated former prime minister.
"But this time it has got national support from Muslims too. That's
unprecedented."
A major success for the Lebanese army could also help undermine
Hizbollah, which has long portrayed itself as the only military force in
Lebanon strong enough to defend the country from its enemies.
That helps to explain why America is now supplying the Lebanese army
less than 12 months after it sent bombs to Israel for use in air raids
against Lebanon.