Jumblatt downplays Lebanon army action at camp

Nahr al-Bared (Lebanon), May 28: Fresh fighting today broke out between the Lebanese army and militants in a Palestinian refugee camp, but a senior member of the governing coalition said there were no plans to end the standoff by military means.

Druze leader Walid Jumblatt demanded the handing over of the Fatah al-Islam Islamist militants, who have been battling the army at the Nahr al-Bared camp for a week in Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war.

The militants and the army exchanged heavy machinegun fire into the night, witnesses said. Several shell explosions were also heard, highlighting the fragility of an informal truce.

The army is not allowed into Lebanon's 12 Palestinian refugee camps under a 1969 Arab agreement. Lebanese troops have been unable to deal the militants a decisive blow from their positions around the camp.

''Nobody has proposed a military settlement. But we want the murderers handed over to Lebanese justice,'' Jumblatt said.

The fighting has forced thousands to flee Nahr al-Bared, usually home to 40,000. At least 78 people have been killed, including 33 soldiers, 27 militants and 18 civilians.

Lebanese leaders have vowed to stamp out Fatah al-Islam but given a chance to mediators to end the standoff. The group is led by a Palestinian but has little support among Palestinians in Lebanon, who number around 400,000.

The main Palestinian factions have been in extensive talks to end the fighting. Palestinian group Islamic Jihad said there was consensus that the standoff needed a political solution.

''We are convinced that the military solution cannot end this phenomenon,'' Islamic Jihad representative Abu Emad al-Refaie told Reuters.

Fatah al-Islam's fighters include Arabs from Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Syria and Tunisia, Lebanese authorities say. Members of Lebanon's governing coalition allege the group is a tool of Syrian intelligence. Syria denies the charge.

The fighting was triggered a week ago when the army says Fatah al-Islam attacked its positions around the camp and near the northern city of Tripoli. The group says it has been acting in self defence.

Criticism of Nasrallah

Thousands of Palestinians have fled Nahr al-Bared. Most have gone to the nearby Beddawi camp, where there is serious overcrowding, said Hoda Elturk, a spokeswoman for the UN agency which cares for Palestinians.

''Our estimates say that 2 to 5,000 at most are still in Nahr al-Bared camp,'' she said. Sporadic gun battles have made it very difficult for relief workers to deliver aid to the camp.

The International Committee of the Red Cross, however, put the number of people left in the camp considerably higher.

''There is still a steady trickle of refugees abandoning the camp on foot. While figures are difficult to confirm, it is probable that about half of Nahr el-Bared residents are still inside the camp,'' an ICRC statement said.

It said it was delivering 14 tonnes of food, 20,000 litres of bottled water and three tonnes of bread to civilians in the camp.

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, an ally of Syria, on Friday urged patience in resolving the standoff and said storming the camp was a ''red line'' which would plunge Lebanon into more violence. Attacks on the army were also a ''red line'', he said.

Jumblatt called Fatah al-Islam ''a Syrian gang'', but doubted claims that it had ties to al Qaeda. He linked the fighting partly to what he saw as efforts to derail UN moves to set up a special court for suspects in assassinations in Lebanon.

The United States, France and Britain have said they expect a Security Council resolution setting up the court to pass this week.

Reuters>