Lebanese government declares itself victorious over militants

Despite the Lebanese government's assertion that it has "crushed" Fatah al-Islam militants in the north, unease persists amid sporadic violence and concerns that the battle may have deepened rifts between Lebanon's Shiites and Sunnis.

According to an Associated Press report, Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr said that the Nahr Al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp, where the fighting took place, will remain "a theater of operations and under siege" until Fatah al-Islam completely surrenders. Mr. Murr demanded the body of the militant group's leader, Shaker al-Abssi, reportedly killed in the fighting, as proof that the Al Qaeda-inspired organization was ready to surrender.

"The Lebanese army has destroyed all Fatah Islam positions," Defense Minister Elias Murr told the private Lebanese Broadcasting Television Thursday night. ``The army is combing the area. This terrorist organization has been uprooted.''

Sheik Mohammed Haj of the Palestinian Scholars Association, a mediator who met with the militants' leaders during the week, said that Fatah Islam ``has declared a cease-fire and will comply with the Lebanese army's decision to end military operations.''

He said the militants would abide by conditions set by the army to end the fighting, but did not elaborate. TV stations and newspapers said the deal included handing over Fatah Islam's wounded and dismantling the group.

As gunfire quiets down in Nahr Al-Bared, some of the more than 31,000 Palestinian refugees are demanding that the Lebanese Army allow them to return to their homes, reports Reuters. Dozens of Palestinian students from Nahr Al-Bared who fled to the nearby Beddawi refugee camp protested in front of the UN school there, calling for a prompt return to their homes.

"We're hearing that the fighting has stopped but there are still some explosions," Hind Abdulal, a 35-year-old mother of 10, told Reuters at the nearby Beddawi camp where she and her family, like thousands of refugees, had taken shelter.

"We're ready to go and stay on the sand instead of staying here (but) we know there are mines and booby traps," she said.

A 1969 agreement prohibits Lebanese forces from entering any of the country's 12 refugee camps, complicating the effort to build a lasting stability. The past month's fighting took place in Nahr Al-Bared neighborhoods constructed outside the camp's official boundaries, built to accommodate the Palestinian population that has expanded considerably since it first arrived to the country in 1948. However, Agence France-Presse reports that a Palestinian force may be required to police inside the camp.

(Mohammed al-Hajj, spokesman for a group of Palestinian clerics) had said the "deployment of a Palestinian force between the two sides in the old camp is imperative if the fighting is to end," and that the army talks were expected "to fix the details of setting up this force" that would protect remaining refugees in the camp and prevent militants from escaping.

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