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11 rockets fired from Nahr el Bared camp landed in N. Lebanon
 Five Katyusha rockets landed in the plains of Arqa and Beit Hadara in the north Lebanon's Akkar province between 7 and 8 am Friday, the state-run National News Agency ( NNA) reported. It said another three Katyushas crashed two hours later in the Minieh and Deir Emar neighborhoods also up North, setting a civilian car on fire. Shortly afterwards, three other projectiles smashed almost simultaneously into different regions of north Lebanon, including Arqa plains and Qaabrine near the highway linking Lebanon with Syria, according to NNA.It said the Katyushas were fired from the northern Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared, where Lebanese troops engaged in one of the heaviest gunbattles with Fatah al-Islam militants. Future TV said 15 Fatah al-Islam terrorists were also killed Friday when they tried to attack a Lebanese army position outside Nahr al-Bared. Fighting between the army and Islamist militants has killed 214 people since May 20. A soldier wounded in ferocious fighting on Thursday died of his wounds, bringing the military's death toll for that day to seven. The military, concerned about being sucked into a war of attrition, has stepped up pressure on the coastal camp to force the militants to surrender. But the well-trained and well-armed militants, some of whom fought in Iraq or trained to go to fight there, have so far rejected all calls to lay down their arms. Witnesses said the army was bombarding the largely destroyed camp with artillery and tanks. Militants were responding with sniper and rocket fire. At least three soldiers were wounded. Black and grey smoke billowed from the camp's battered buildings, most of which have been reduced to rubble. Thursday's fighting was the most ferocious since the Lebanese defense minister declared on June 21 that all major combat operations had ceased at Nahr al-Bared. A 1969 Arab agreement banned Lebanese security forces from entering Palestinian camps. The agreement was annulled by the Lebanese parliament in the mid-1980s but the accord effectively stayed in place. The violence has further undermined stability in Lebanon, where a paralyzing 8-month political crisis has been compounded by bombings in and around Beirut. The country has yet to recover from last year's war between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas. Posted by: Fred 2007-07-14 |
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