BEIRUT, May 23 (Xinhua)-- Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) representative Abbas Zaki on Wednesday said it would not interfere if the Lebanese army decide to enter and storm the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp where the Fatah al-Islam militants are holed up.
"This is a Lebanese decision," Zaki told reporters in Bkiriki where he held talks with Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir on Wednesday.
"We have declared that the country is for Lebanon and sovereignty is for Lebanon, and whatever Lebanon decides or considers its higher interests, we support it," he said.
Since Tuesday night, a truce between the army and the Fatah al-Islam militants has taken hold in the camp. However, Lebanon has vowed to wipe out the militants who had been locked in days of gun-battles with government troops around Nahr al-Bared.
Fatah al-Islam's spokesman Abu Salim Taha said on Wednesday the group would abide by a truce but vowed its militants would not surrender.
"We respect the truce, but we will not surrender. If we are attacked, we will fight until the last drop of blood," Abu Salim said.
"The civilians are free to exit the camp. We will not stop them," he added.
Nahr al-Bared camp is home to some 40,000 Palestinian refugees, and under a 38-year-old deal, the army do not enter the Palestinian refugee camps.
Since Tuesday night, about 10,000 civilians have fled the camp, where three days of fighting had left dozens killed and even more injured.
BEIRUT, May 22 (Xinhua) -- Around 10,000 of civilians have fled from the Nahr el-Bared Palestinian refugee camp after a lull finally fell here following three days of fighting between the Lebanese army and Islamist militants, local TV reported.
Under the cover of darkness, fatigued and terrified civilians were seen from the TV footage moving from the camp to another one a few miles to the south of Tripoli. Many were crammed in one vehicle. Full story
UNITED NATIONS, May 23 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council expressed deep concern on Wednesday at the recent outbreak of violence in Lebanon which killed over 60 people and injured many others.
In a statement read out by U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, the council's president for May, the 15-member council "condemned in the strongest possible terms the attacks by the so-called 'Fatah al Islam' gunmen on Lebanese security and armed forces in Northern Lebanon." Full story
BEIRUT, May 22 (Xinhua) -- The fighting between the Lebanese troops and militants around a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon entered the third day on Tuesday, after clashes left at least 79 dead in the previous two days, local daily The Daily Star reported.
The paper quoted security sources as saying that by Monday night, 25 militants had been killed and 40 were in custody. Full story
BEIJING, May 21 -- In Lebanon, fighting continues in the north of the country between local security forces and Islamic militants. That's already killed close to forty people.
At least thirteen soldiers and seventeen militants have been killed in clashes that continue unabated on the streets of Tripoli and in a nearby Palestinian refugee camp. Full story
Print
