Refugees aim anger at Lebanese army

Palestinians fleeing their homes Wednesday under cover of a cease-fire expressed outrage over three days of shelling by the Lebanese army and sympathy for the militant group that was the target of the barrages.

“They didn’t want to harm us,” said Amira Suleiman, referring to the radical Islamic militant group, Fatah al Islam. “They are peaceful, reading the Koran.”

Suleiman and 10 members of her family were among an estimated 15,000 Palestinians who have streamed out of the Nahr el Bared refugee camp in the last two days. She carried only a few plastic bags of clothing.

Her son referred to those who ordered the shelling as “dogs of the government,” drawing the ire of nearby Lebanese, one of whom had to be restrained as he shouted: “What are you saying? That Fatah al Islam isn’t inside the camp? Who is fighting then?”

The battle against the small radical group, which is ideologically linked with Al Qaeda, threatens to undermine Lebanon’s fledgling army. Lebanese officials have asked for $280 million in military aid from the United States to fight the militants.

Observers fear that other radical factions may rise up in any of Lebanon’s 11 other camps, home to about 400,000 displaced and disenfranchised Palestinians.

“The weapons of radical Islamists are now part of the Lebanese equation,” said Nicolas Nassif, a Beirut-based political analyst. The government has been forced to strike at the camps, he said. “There is no real choice. If we reach a point where Fatah al Islam’s existence in the camp is accepted, the situation will be very dangerous.”

Yasser Akkaoui, a political observer and editor of Executive magazine, called the Lebanese security forces “gendarmes de St. Tropez” and “tourism police.”

“They cannot deal with these groups,” he said. “These groups are going to continue to strike because they receive support from Syria.”

Some Lebanese officials have accused the Syrian government of providing weapons and money to the group but have offered no solid proof. Syrian officials have denied the allegations.

French anti-terrorism police have expressed concern since 2005 about Al Qaeda-linked extremists in northern Lebanon’s Palestinian refugee camps. They said their investigations showed that a French extremist underwent training at a camp in the Tripoli area, where Nahr el Bared is located.

“Two years ago, we were very concerned about the presence of Islamists in the Palestinian camps in Lebanon,” a senior French anti-terrorism official said. “We looked into it very closely. We shared it with our allies and evidently it was not a unique case, but there were, in Lebanon, training camps, or at least training facilities.”

The network of Abu Musab Zarqawi, then chief of Al Qaeda in Iraq, supplied trainers to teach explosives techniques to fighters who then returned to Europe or other regions, French officials say.

Ramzi Kurayem, a doctoral student in Islamic studies who lives at the neighboring Bedawi camp near the Syrian border, said Fatah al Islam members are mostly young men from other Arab countries who consider fighting the Lebanese soldiers a religious duty.

It’s “very difficult to finish them because they are ready to fight until death,” he said. “They are ready to blow themselves up.”

One fighter did blow himself up Tuesday, detonating a belt of explosives after battling security forces in Tripoli.

When the group first arrived at the camp in November, other residents were suspicious but eventually became accustomed to the militants, Kurayem said.

Lebanese authorities say the group, believed to number about 100 fighters, is responsible for twin bus bombings in February that killed three people in a Christian area.

Palestinian officials describe the fighters as intruders who have nothing to do with the Palestinian cause.

At least 80 people, 30 of them Lebanese soldiers, have been killed this week in fighting, Defense Minister Elias Murr told Al Arabiya satellite television channel Wednesday. He warned that remaining militants faced a “full-scale military operation.” The army is barred from entering the camp by a 1969 agreement.

A bomb exploded Wednesday in a resort overlooking Beirut, injuring several people. It was the third such strike in four days.

A Red Cross official said more than 15,000 people, nearly half of Nahr el Bared’s residents, had arrived at the nearby Bedawi camp, already crowded with 20,000 Palestinians.

“They shelled mosques, not military bases,” said Yasser Awad, 32, a gas station attendant who arrived at the Bedawi camp Wednesday. “Even Israel didn’t do this,” he said.

“Where are we going to go now,” cried Namad Nadour, 42, whose 19-year-old son, Alaa, is missing. “Isn’t it a pity to do this to our people?”

Fighting began early Sunday when security forces tried to raid in an apartment in nearby Tripoli that was believed to house key leaders of Fatah al Islam. Fighters held off the soldiers in a bloody 10-hour standoff.

Other militants overran checkpoints, killing several soldiers, and the army retaliated by shelling the refugee camp where the group has its paramilitary base.

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roug@latimes.com

Special correspondent Rafei reported from Nahr el Bared and Times staff writer Roug from Beirut. Times staff writer Sebastian Rotella in Paris contributed to this report.