Monday, May 21, 2007

Lebanese Army Smashing Islamic Terrorists

The fierce battle between the Lebanese Government and a radical Islamist faction shifted to one of Lebanon's Palestinian refugee camps today, bringing civilians into the line of fire and raising fears of a period of instability for the country.

More than 50 people have now been killed in two days of street battles, bombings and shelling between the Lebanese Army and Fatah al-Islam, a heavily-armed Palestinian splinter group that is believed to have connections with al-Qaeda. The Government appears intent on destroying the group after it launched co-ordinated attacks on army patrols yesterday, killing at least 27 soldiers.

Showing how marginal and dangerous the group is felt to be, the Government today received offers of help from the mainstream Palestinian factions in the country to help wipe out Fatah al-Islam but there fears that its terror campaign presages further attempts to destabilise Lebanon as it attempts to prosecute the killers of Rafik al-Hariri, the former Prime Minister blown up in 2004.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article1819708.ece