Syrians Break Siege at Second Camp in Beirut
Syria extended its control over Muslim West Beirut on Wednesday with the deployment of troops in a second Palestinian refugee camp held under siege for five months by Shia Muslim Amal militiamen.
Under a Syrian-mediated agreement to end the “camps war” that has claimed more than 700 lives and left 2,000 people wounded, about 100 Syrian soldiers set up five positions in and around the Borj el Brajne camp, Beirut’s largest refugee shantytown with 12,000 inhabitants.
Earlier, 70 Syrian soldiers who took up positions Tuesday in the nearby Chatilla camp supervised the evacuation of 23 seriously wounded refugees in International Red Cross ambulances.
The lifting of the sieges at the two camps where residents came close to starvation was the result of a Syrian-mediated peace plan reached Sunday between Amal and Syrian-backed Palestinian officials. Amal militiamen had barricaded Palestinian camps throughout Lebanon to prevent the Palestinians from re-establishing a military presence in the country.
Women Buy Food
At the Chatilla camp, Syrian soldiers let women out to buy food Wednesday, telling them they could make one shopping trip a day. Gunmen from the Amal militia searched the bags of the returning women and confiscated all medicines, allowing only canned food and fresh fruit and vegetables into the camp. The Syrians did not interfere.
About 90% of the shantytown appeared to be in ruins. Sewers were blown open. Flies hovered in clouds, and the smell was nauseating. Almost every shack had gaping bomb or shell holes through which people passed to visit each other.
About 600 Syrian commandos spread out before nightfall Wednesday in eight buffer zones around the nearby and much larger Borj el Brajne camp, where sniper fire had echoed earlier in the day. A few Palestinian women and children emerged to greet them.
Amal militiamen were seen pulling back from their forward positions.
Brig. Gen. Ghazi Kenaan, the Syrian commander in Beirut, declared: “The war for the camps in Beirut is over.”
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
