Lebanese troops inched toward Islamic militant strongholds in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon as mediators hinted at a possible ceasefire deal that would include the disarmament of the al-Qaeda-inspired militants.
Two Lebanese soldiers became the latest victims of the battle around the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp near the city of Tripoli that began on May 20, security officials said on condition of anonymity.
As the battle with the Fatah Islam group continued, mediators hinted at a possible ceasefire deal with the militants.
PHOTO: AFP
According to a Palestinian Muslim cleric who has been acting as mediator, the deal would include a ceasefire, to be followed by the militants' disarmament.
The cleric, Sheik Mohammed Haj, said he had a "very positive" meeting with Fatah Islam leaders inside the camp on Monday but would not give details before a meeting with the army command scheduled for yesterday.
He told the official Lebanese news agency that the militants agreed to conditions of his Palestinian Scholars Association.
The cleric did not offer more details, but the private New TV station said the conditions also include return of refugees, takeover of the camp by other Palestinian factions and Fatah Islam's dissolution.
Meanwhile, Abu Imad Rifai, a representative of the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad, told Al-Manar television that the progress was made after Fatah Islam "opened the doors for a solution" and accepted to "dissolve."
The army had said its decision to eliminate Fatah Islam was "final and irreversible," and the militants had pledged to fight to death rather than comply with the army's request that they surrender.
The fighting in Nahr el-Bared comes amid a standoff between Prime Minister Fuad Saniora's Western-backed government and the opposition led by the militant Hezbollah group.
Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa began a three-day visit to Beirut on Tuesday to hold meetings with rival politicians in an attempt to help find solutions to the political crisis.
"Negative winds are blowing in every direction. The Lebanese, and we all, must help to protect Lebanon from these dangerous winds," Moussa said upon arrival at Beirut's airport.
In Tuesday's fighting at Nahr el-Bared, a barrage of six shells at a time was heard as the army pounded the camp. Black and white plumes of smoke were seen rising from inside the camp.
State-run National News Agency (NNA) said three Lebanese helicopters fired 12 rockets at suspected Fatah Islam positions in the camp.
Meanwhile, Lebanon's top military magistrate Rashid Mezher issued formal arrest warrants for nine suspected militants who were detained earlier this month in the town of Bar Elias in the eastern Bekaa Valley, NNA said. The agency did not say to which group the nine belonged but said they comprise six Lebanese, two Syrians and a Saudi.
Tuesday's deaths of two soldiers brought the army's fatalities to 74 since fighting first erupted, when police raiding suspects in a bank robbery clashed with Fatah Islam in a Tripoli neighborhood.
At least 60 militants were killed in the early days of the fighting, with officials saying many more died later on. The militants have given a much lower death toll, but contact with them recently has not been possible. At least 20 civilians were reported killed.
The army has made steady gains on the ground in recent days. On occasion, it leveled top floors of buildings to root out militant snipers, and engaged in door-to-door combat to try to break the stubborn resistance of the militants who operate from behind fortified positions and target the military with rockets and booby traps.
The battle to drive the Islamic militants out has led to significant damage to parts of the camp, once home to some 30,000 Palestinian refugees. Only about 5,000 remain inside, after most residents fled to the nearby Beddawi refugee camp.
An amateur video obtained on Tuesday showed major destruction in largely deserted residential neighborhoods.
Debris from collapsed walls and balconies littered the narrow alleys, covered with ripped electricity wires. Shells and shrapnel holes peppered some buildings. A burnt car and a parked pickup truck with a collapsed wall resting on it lay on one deserted street.
The video, taken at different periods between May 27 and June 10, showed very few residents. Six men were seen gathering around a hose to fill up cans with water. In one house, a family was sitting on the floor for a meal.
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