In fight against militants, Lebanon bolstered by US, Gulf countries
The Lebanese army, carrying out a major offensive against Fatah al-Islam, has little combat experience and outdated equipment.
from the June 4, 2007 edition
Page 4 of 4
Lebanese soldiers determined
Still, the spirit to fight appears strong. Soldiers manning frontline positions say they are determined to finish off Fatah al-Islam.
"We will kill them if they don't surrender. The fighting will be difficult, but we will win, be assured of that," says a special-forces captain.
The camp echoed Sunday with the near-constant rattle of heavy machine guns and rifles, punctuated every few seconds by thunderous blasts from exploding tank rounds. The plain concrete four-story buildings at the edge of the camp were pitted with holes from tanks shells and spattered by hundreds of bullet holes. Tiny flashes of light peppered walls of buildings marking the impact of explosive-tipped machine gun rounds fired by Lebanese troops. Thick coils of black smoke from burning buildings rose into the air. Some buildings were so badly damaged, they seemed to defy gravity by still standing. Tiny beads of orange light from rocket-propelled grenades floated lazily across the smoking rooftops before exploding in a dirty gray cloud of dust and smoke. One half-built five-story building was struck repeatedly with tank shells within a few seconds and collapsed in a huge cloud of dust and a deafening roar.
The attacking troops appeared to be slicing pockets of territory one at a time, forcing the Fatah al-Islam militants to retreat into the heart of the camp where the buildings are jammed against each other so tightly that sunlight rarely penetrates the tiny passageways in between.
But it promises to be an even tougher battle than the Army initially believed.
"We thought this might take two or three days, but I think it's going to be more like a week," says an Army officer in the Lebanese ministry of defense.
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