They said another nine soldiers were wounded in the Nahr al-Bared camp fighting that began on Thursday after Fatah al-Islam snipers shot dead two soldiers, prompting Lebanese troops to unleash barrages of artillery fire.
The army and Fatah al-Islam militants have battled at the coastal Nahr al-Bared camp for nearly eight weeks. At least 209 people have been killed, making it Lebanon’s worst internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war.
Political sources said the army, concerned about being sucked into a war of attrition, had decided to mount an all-out assault on the camp to root out the militants, who have defied demands that they surrender. But a military statement denied Thursday’s fighting was a final push.
“The ongoing military operations are still in the framework of tightening the noose on the gunmen to force them to surrender and submit to justice,” it said.
Witnesses said the army was bombarding the camp from all sides, often at a rate of 7 to 10 artillery shells per minute. Black smoke billowed from the camp’s bombed-out buildings, most of which have been reduced to rubble. Thursday’s fighting was the most ferocious since the Lebanese defence minister declared on June 21 that all major combat operations had ceased at Nahr al-Bared after the army seized all militants’ posts on its outskirts.
A 1969 Arab agreement banned Lebanese security forces from entering Palestinian camps. The agreement was annulled by the Lebanese parliament in mid 1980s but the accord effectively stayed in place.