Palestinians flee as truce holds

BEDDAWI – Thousands of Palestinians fled a besieged refugee camp yesterday after a fragile truce halted fighting between the Lebanese army and al Qaeda-inspired militants.

Vehicles choked the main road out of the Nahr al-Bared camp, where the Lebanese army had been battling the Fatah al-Islam militant group since Sunday in Lebanon’s worst internal fighting since the 1975-1990 civil war. At least 22 militants, 32 soldiers and 27 civilians have been killed in the fighting, which initially erupted in both the port city of Tripoli and Nahr al-Bared.The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said there were no accurate final figures on casualties because of the danger of moving in and out of the camp.Those fleeing spoke of scenes of destruction at the Nahr al-Bared camp which came under heavy army shelling.”All the houses are destroyed.We left and we don’t know what happened to ours.We walked most of the way here,” said Nizar Sharaf, 35, who was carrying his four-year-old son who he said had been wounded by shrapnel on the first day of fighting.”I’m scared, I feel like I’m dying,” said 55-year-old Radi Rabbani, clutching loaves of bread which aid workers were handing out at a school in Beddawi camp, where many of the fleeing refugees stayed.The fighting eased on Tuesday afternoon following an informal truce.A military source said there was calm but added that “the matter is not over”.”It will only end with the final end of this gang”, he said.Aid workers said some residents had not left the camp, home to 40 000 Palestinians.”It’s very dangerous and risky to move inside the camp due to sniping,” said Hoda Elturk, a spokeswoman for the UN agency which cares for Palestinians.Fatah al-Islam, a Sunni Islamist militant group led by a Palestinian, emerged in 2006 when it split from Fatah al-Intifada (Fatah Uprising), a Syrian-backed Palestinian group based in Lebanon.The government had pledged to root out Fatah al-Islam, which members of the governing coalition say is a tool of Syrian intelligence.Syria denies any link with the group.The Lebanese authorities say they have arrested Saudi, Algerian, Tunisian and Lebanese members of the group.The group has little support among Palestinians, but army shelling has enraged camp residents.The army is not allowed into Palestinian camps in Lebanon under a 1969 Arab agreement.Human Rights Watch said “the Lebanese army must take better precautions to prevent needless civilian deaths”.Nampa-ReutersAt least 22 militants, 32 soldiers and 27 civilians have been killed in the fighting, which initially erupted in both the port city of Tripoli and Nahr al-Bared.The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said there were no accurate final figures on casualties because of the danger of moving in and out of the camp.Those fleeing spoke of scenes of destruction at the Nahr al-Bared camp which came under heavy army shelling.”All the houses are destroyed.We left and we don’t know what happened to ours.We walked most of the way here,” said Nizar Sharaf, 35, who was carrying his four-year-old son who he said had been wounded by shrapnel on the first day of fighting.”I’m scared, I feel like I’m dying,” said 55-year-old Radi Rabbani, clutching loaves of bread which aid workers were handing out at a school in Beddawi camp, where many of the fleeing refugees stayed.The fighting eased on Tuesday afternoon following an informal truce.A military source said there was calm but added that “the matter is not over”.”It will only end with the final end of this gang”, he said.Aid workers said some residents had not left the camp, home to 40 000 Palestinians.”It’s very dangerous and risky to move inside the camp due to sniping,” said Hoda Elturk, a spokeswoman for the UN agency which cares for Palestinians.Fatah al-Islam, a Sunni Islamist militant group led by a Palestinian, emerged in 2006 when it split from Fatah al-Intifada (Fatah Uprising), a Syrian-backed Palestinian group based in Lebanon.The government had pledged to root out Fatah al-Islam, which members of the governing coalition say is a tool of Syrian intelligence.Syria denies any link with the group.The Lebanese authorities say they have arrested Saudi, Algerian, Tunisian and Lebanese members of the group.The group has little support among Palestinians, but army shelling has enraged camp residents.The army is not allowed into Palestinian camps in Lebanon under a 1969 Arab agreement.Human Rights Watch said “the Lebanese army must take better precautions to prevent needless civilian deaths”.Nampa-Reuters