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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Mediators negotiating evacuation of wounded from Lebanon camp |
| 2007-08-28 |
| Palestinian clerics continued negotiating on Monday on the possible evacuation of wounded militants from a camp besieged by the army in northern Lebanon since May 20, a mediator said. "Contacts continue with the Lebanese army and (Fatah al-Islam spokesman) Abu Salim Taha," Sheikh Mohamad Hajj, spokesman for the League of Palestine Clerics, told reporters. "We have still not reached an agreement on how" the wounded extremists would be evacuated from the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared, Hajj said, without elaborating. An army spokesman confirmed that mediation was taking place, without wishing to give more details on the number of wounded militants due to be evacuated. The clerics had already succeeded in arranging for the wives and children -- 63 people -- of the remaining Fatah al-Islam militants to be evacuated last Friday. Hajj said the Lebanese as well as Palestinian civilians with Lebanese travel documents who were evacuated on Friday had joined their families in the refugee camps of Ain al-Helweh in the south and Baddawi, near Nahr al-Bared. He said Syrian or Palestinian evacuees with Syrian travel documents have already left for neighboring Syria, including the family of Shaker al Absi, leader of the militants A small number of foreign evacuees with no travel documents were in army custody, Palestinian sources said. An army spokesman said that information from those evacuated could help the military in its final showdown with the militants. |
| Posted by:Fred |