Beirut – The army clashed with al-Qaeda-linked Islamic fighters in a Palestinian refugee camp Tuesday, breaking a weeklong truce. Lebanon’s government said it is determined to defeat the militants but remains willing to give mediation a chance.
Lebanese army artillery pounded positions on the northern edge of the Nahr el-Bared camp and near the Mediterranean coastline, apparently trying to prevent any militants from fleeing, reporters at the scene said. One rocket apparently fired from the Fatah Islam militants started a fire on the edge of the camp.
Sporadic gunfire exchanges have continued daily since the truce halted three days of heavy fighting. But the fighting that started before sundown and lasted 1 1/2 hours was the worst outbreak of violence in a week.
U.S.-backed Prime Minister Fouad Siniora vowed to defeat the militants.
“We cannot compromise on the issue of terrorism,” he said before the renewed fighting.
Three days of fighting that began May 20 have given way to a tense standoff between the army and Fatah Islam militants holed up in the northern Lebanon camp.
The army has positioned hundreds of soldiers, backed by tanks and armored carriers, in place to storm the camp, where hundreds of fighters remain along with thousands of Palestinian civilians.
The likelihood of brutal house-to-house fighting has apparently prompted the government to give Palestinian factions and Muslim clerics a chance to talk the militants into surrendering. Fatah Islam leaders have said they will never surrender.
