The refugee camp jihad spreads. By Scheherezade Faramarzi for the Associated Press:
EIN EL-HILWEH CAMP, Lebanon - Violence sparked by a two-week old confrontation between the Lebanese army and al-Qaida inspired militants spread to a second Palestinian refugee camp in the southern part of the country, killing two soldiers, police said Monday.
After sporadic clashes Sunday evening, fighting picked up overnight and resumed briefly Monday morning as Islamic militants of the Jund al-Sham group fired rocket propelled grenades at the army on the edge of the southern Ein el-Hilweh camp, the largest of 12 Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. The army fired back.
Police said five Lebanese soldiers were wounded in the Ein el-Hilweh clashes. One Jund al-Sham official was wounded and several houses belonging to members of the group were burned by army fire, Lebanese security and Palestinian officials said.
Jund al-Sham, which is based in Ein el-Hilweh, has claimed responsibility or been blamed for a number of bombings and gunbattles, mainly in Lebanon and Syria. Syrian officials have portrayed Jund al-Sham, which is Arabic for Soldiers of historic Syria, as the most active militant group in their country. In Lebanon, the militants are believed to number in the dozens.
[...]
Back at Ein el-Hilweh, where Jund al-Sham militants are believed to be trying to occupy the army and take the pressure off their Fatah Islam allies, a member of Asbat al-Ansar, another Islamic group that has refused to join the fight and is mediating an end to the confrontation, was killed in the clashes, the officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to talk to the media.
Asbat al-Ansar, Arabic for the Partisans' League, is on the U.S. list of terrorist groups.
As usual, the notion that Abbas and his faction are "moderate" is dropped in unquestioningly:
An official with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' moderate Fatah faction, said Palestinian groups would be meeting to try to ease the tensions at Ein el- Hilweh, blaming Islamic factions for blocking Fatah from going after Jund al-Sham.
"The camp cannot be taken hostage by 40 gangsters," said Col. Abu Walid Ashi, a Fatah spokesman at Ein el-Hilweh, referring to the Jund al-Sham militants.
"If they let us, we can finish them off in hours," he said. But he warned violence could increase if Fatah decided to make a move against the militants.
Similar attempts to reach a compromise have failed to quell the fighting up north at Nahr el-Bared. The Lebanese government has demanded that Fatah Islam surrender, but the militant group's deputy leader rejected the call in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.
"This is not only impossible, this is unthinkable. Our blood is cheaper than handing over our weapons and surrendering," Abu Hureira, a Lebanese whose real name is Shehab al-Qaddour, said Sunday. He also denied the army had made significant progress in its offensive.
"I am still in the same position since the war began," Abu Hureira said. "Our morals are high and the army did not make any advance."
A second camp? What happened, did they run out of women and children shields?
"I am still in the same position since the war began," Abu Hureira said. "Our morals are high and the army did not make any advance."
Still in the same position??
He must be getting pretty stiff and sore by now.
Your 'morals' may be 'high' (what are you smoking?), but I bet your back is killing you...
The million dollar question is, ‘When do Hezbollah and the Syrian’s step into the fray?’
And from Tehran, ‘All you Lebanon are belong to us.’
Sounds to me like the Lebanonese Army has the same restricted rules of engagement as the U.S. Army.
For god's sake, level the place and be done with it. Why won't any of these Governments fight to win? Are there no FDRs, Winston Churchills, or George Pattons around any more?
If their blood is THAT cheap, why haven't we spilled MORE of it???
Journalists throw around many useless and misleading words to describe situations and people in that part of the world. My pet peeve is the use of the word "camp" to describe anywhere Palestinians live. I have seen, via television, the 'camps' in Gaza, with paved roads and streets, some with boulevards, modern buildings, including apartment complexes and offices, modern hospitals, etc. The same can be said for the 'camp' in Lebanon. The Lebanese soldiers are shelling buildings, not clusters of tents or a group of travel trailers...the normal definition of camps. The word 'camp,' like the overused words, 'moderates' 'refugees' and above all, 'victims' use up a lot of printers' ink and roll quickly off the tongues of Muslims, particularly Palestinian Muslims.
What took so long? I thought this was going to happen 2 weeks ago..
What the heck are 400,000 Palestinian displaced/homeless/Bedouins (whatever they are called) doing in a country with a 3.6 million population! Who designed this impending tragedy?
ofcourse: The Arabs before and during the war of 1948. The Israelis during the war of 1948.
Just maybe this is a way of drawing down the resources of the Lebanese military prior to a Syrian intervention (Invasion) to assist the poor beleagered Lebanese.
Our blood is cheaper than handing over our weapons and surrendering,"
Okay then, cut off your nose to spite your face you ignorant ass.
They can blow you to bits and TAKE your weapons. No one will remember your rotting flesh anyway.
"What the heck are 400,000 Palestinian displaced/homeless/Bedouins (whatever they are called) doing in a country with a 3.6 million population. Posted by ofcourse"
These are the ARAB cowards who, at the advice of the nations that were going to attack Israel, abandoned Israel - ran with their tails between their legs. Now it suits Muslims to keep them in camps for political purposes.
Why do we have ARAB Israelis? SOME of them didn't run like chickens and today they are Israeli citizens.
Please remember that BEFORE Israel was a nation, all people in that area were called Palestinians - including the Jews.