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"The government green-light is always there to storm the Nahr al-Bared camp," Zakki said |
NAHR AL-BARED, Lebanon — The Lebanese army was poised Friday, June 1, to storm a besieged Palestinian camp in northern Lebanon as fighting raged between army troops and militants holed up inside the camp.
"The government green-light is always there to storm the Nahr al-Bared camp," Abbas Zakki, the representative of the Palestine Liberation Organization in Lebanon (PLO), told the Doha-based Al-Jazeera channel.
He said the PLO backed the army crackdown on the militant group Fatah al-Islam inside the camp.
Zakki was also quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP) as saying that he had been told by Premier Fouad Siniora that "concrete measures will be taken to put an end to the hostage-taking of the camp".
He said that he had pleaded for the army to "do everything in its power to spare the civilians."
At least 84 people, including 35 soldiers, have been killed in deadly clashes between the army and the Al-Qaeda-inspired group, which sparked off the army's offensive following a deadly attack on an army position last month.
The Lebanese government has demanded the handing over of Fatah al-Islam militants.
The government has given Palestinian leaders in Lebanon a chance to find a way out of the stand-off because it fears the fighting could spark violence in other refugee camps.
But a Palestinian source told Reuters Friday that the government appeared to have become impatient with the lack of progress by mediators and had decided to step up military pressure on the militants.
A 1969 Arab agreement prevents the Lebanese army from entering the country's 12 Palestinian camps, home to 400,000 refugees.
A Reuters witness said the army had assembled a score of tanks about 1 km from an entrance of the besieged camp.
AFP Correspondents further reported around 20 army vehicles, including tanks, taking up new positions on the road leading to the camp from the south.
Another 10 armored vehicles were deployed to the scene of fighting to the north.
Four Lebanese navy patrol boats could also be seen off the coast outside the camp.
Lebanese officers told AFP that a reconnaissance commando unit had penetrated a few hundred meters (yards) inside the camp.
Army Assault
Since early morning, artillery and machinegun fire shook the besieged camp.
Thick smoke was seen rising from targets struck by army tank fire and mortars inside the camp.
"It is clear that this is the start of an army assault," the Palestinian source told Reuters.
An army spokesman said the troops were trying to prevent Fatah al-Islam gunmen from using high points for sniper fire.
"We are now controlling high points just outside the camp," the spokesman told AFP, requesting anonymity.
"The army did not enter the camp, but has controlled tall buildings inside the camp from a distance," he said.
A military source said a commando of around 1,000 men was involved in the operation, without elaborating.
A security source added the army had made "progress" on the northwestern part of Nahr al-Bared where most Fatah al-Islam gunmen were deployed.
The army said that it had not suffered any casualties in the fighting.
But two Lebanese civilians were wounded by a shell while driving nearby.
According to UN estimates, the ongoing fighting forced most of the camp's original 31,000 residents to flee the camp. Only around 5,000 remained there.
Relief agencies have been struggling to deliver aid both to those who were able to flee and to those still trapped inside.
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