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Lebanese army surrounds Nahr Al-Bared camp

Atul Aneja

DUBAI: Amid heavy artillery fire, the Lebanese army has surrounded a Palestinian refugee camp in north Lebanon where Islamist militants have entrenched themselves.

Tanks and military vehicles have been positioned outside the Nahr Al-Bared camp near the coastal city of Tripoli. The navy has also joined the push and was pounding the area from the sea. Militants from the Fatah Al Islam are holed up inside the camp, along with many civilians who are also trapped. The militants have fortified themselves in residential neighbourhoods straddling narrow, winding streets. It was not clear whether the Lebanese army planned to storm the camp, or was attempting to takeover key positions that would make it difficult for the militants to escape. "I think the army is determined this time to go ahead and probably to reduce several pockets of Fatah Islam terrorist," Lebanese Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh was quoted as saying.

Thousands of Palestinians have fled the camp, but thousands more are still inside.

Separately, members of the mainstream Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the Islamist Jund al-Sham group battled each other in the Ein el-Hilweh camp. Located in the port city of Sidon, it is the largest refugee camp in Lebanon.

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