More than 65 people have been killed in Lebanon in almost three days of heavy fighting described as the country’s worst internal violence since the 1975-90 civil war. The clashes broke out Sunday between army soldiers and rebels from a Palestinian refugee camp – Nahr El-Bared – north of Tripoli. Lebanese defense officials say the fighting broke out when security forces tried to arrest suspects in a bank robbery. They claim that the rebels, allegedly linked to al-Qaeda, then attacked the army posts at the entrances of the camp, sparking the clashes.
About 300 members of the Palestinian group, Fatah al-Islam, are believed to be in the Nahr El-Bared refugee camp, which is home to about 40,000 of the 400,000 Palestinian refugees to whom Lebanon gave shelter in the wake of the creation of Israel in 1948. The camp is one of about 12 others that cannot be accessed by the Lebanese army under a 1969 Arab accord.
Two or more generations of Palestinians have grown up in such camps and they know no other home. The recent clashes added to their misery. Since the rebels live in densely packed houses, innocent casualties have been targeted. Several wounded civilians have been trapped inside the camp since the fighting began. According to Lebanese army and Palestinian sources, 30 troops and 17 rebels have been killed along with 17 Palestinian refugees and one Lebanese civilian.
Aid convoys have been unable to deliver relief supplies to the civilians inside the camp. Residents say they are suffering from a lack of electricity and shortages of water, food and medical supplies. "There are many wounded...We're under siege. There is a shortage of bread, medicine and electricity....There are children under the rubble" of damaged buildings, Sana Abu Faraj, a resident of the camp said.
There are different theories about the real reasons behind the latest clashes. Fighters based inside the Nahr al-Bared camp have been under scrutiny by Lebanese authorities, who allegedly accuse them of being responsible for two bombings in a Christian area of Beirut in February. Authorities also blamed Fatah al-Islam for two other bomb attacks that shook Beirut on Sunday and Monday. But the group’s spokesman denied any involvement.
Some analysts say the recent clashes could be a ploy by the Western-backed Lebanese government to push its efforts to set up an international tribunal to try suspects in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, which has been blamed on Syrian officials by an uncompleted UN probe. Syria denies any involvement in Hariri’s murder, and dismisses claims by some members of Lebanon’s anti-Syrian parliamentary majority that it wants to block the formation of the tribunal.
Lebanese officials claim that Fatah al-Islam has been used by the Syrian intelligence as a tool to derail UN moves to establish the Hariri tribunal.
But, like all Palestinian resistance groups, Damascus distanced itself from Nahr El-Bared fighters. Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid Moualem reiterated that his country opposed Fatah al-Islam and wanted to arrest all its leaders. "Our forces have been after them, even through Interpol," he said in a lecture at Damascus University. "We reject this organization. It does not serve the Palestinian cause and it is not after liberating Palestine."
Whatever the reasons behind the recent clashes, Lebanon certainly doesn’t need another wave of violence. The fighting showed how fragile security remains in Lebanon, which has been wrecked by Israel’s war against the resistance movement Hezbollah last year in which more than 1,200 mostly Lebanese civilians died. Beirut has also been hit by a series of unsolved assassinations following Hariri’s assassination which led to the withdrawal of all Syrian troops from the country.
Correspondents say the embattled Lebanese government, itself embroiled in a long-running political dispute between pro-government groups and opposition parties, including Hezbollah, risks sparking a backlash among Palestinians in other refugee camps in Lebanon. If the military moves into Nahr el-Bared by force, it could trigger widespread anger around the Arab world, particularly at a time when Israel is attacking the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
On Monday, Palestinian Liberation Organization representative Abbas Zaki told Lebanese Prime Minister Fuoad Siniora that Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon shouldn’t be “the spark that starts a civil war."
Meanwhile, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party, denied any link with Fatah al-Islam. "Fatah al-Islam has no link with the Fatah movement. There is absolutely no connection and they have no right to use the name Fatah," said Fahmi Zaarir.
Despite distancing themselves from Fatah al-Islam, Palestinian leaders are angered by the death and injury of several civilians by Lebanese army shelling. The Lebanon head of the mainstream Palestinian Fatah movement warned that continued shelling could trigger an uprising by refugees who live mostly in abject poverty in camps across the country. "No Palestinian, Mr Palestinian faction in Lebanon will accept seeing the Palestinian people slaughtered in a collective punishment as is happening in Nahr Al-Bared," Sultan Abul Aynayn told AFP.
"We are one people with the Lebanese, but we will not let our Palestinian brothers be slaughtered," said Khalil Khaled, 50, as he joined a demonstration in the Beddawi refugee camp, near Nahr El-Bared.
It isn’t clear whether a truce announced by Fatah al-Islam earlier Tuesday could hold, as the Lebanese government vowed to crush the group, which it described as a “dangerous phenomenon”.
The actions of Fatah al-Islam cannot be justified. As guests or as members of the Lebanese society, they owe a duty to the government. Most importantly, the actions of this small group should not represent the views of the majority of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.
The embattled Lebanese government has the right to restore order, but the use of force might not be the wisest action since many innocent civilians could also be targeted. The solution clearly lies in mediation. The Lebanese must not be lured into causing bloodshed on the scale of the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre.
Add Comments