Camp battle resumes in Lebanon
The Lebanese army fired artillery rounds Tuesday and militants barricaded inside this Palestinian refugee camp returned fire with mortars in the heaviest fighting in a week.
Heavy machine-gun fire also was heard in Nahr al Bared, where the militant group Fatah al Islam is surrounded by government forces.
Smoke was rising from buildings inside the camp, which was home to 40,000 people. Thousands have fled since the fighting began May 20.
A Lebanese soldier was killed early Tuesday, bringing the death toll in Lebanon’s worst internal fighting since the 1975-90 civil war to at least 79 people: 34 soldiers, 27 militants and 18 civilians.
The government says Fatah al Islam triggered the fighting when it attacked army positions around the camp and the northern city of Tripoli after an army raid seeking militants with the group who were wanted in connection with a bank robbery.
The Fatah al Islam militants say they have been acting in self-defense.
A 1969 agreement prohibits the army from entering Lebanon’s 12 Palestinian refugee camps.
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