The fight between Lebanese soldiers and Al Qaeda-inspired fighters just outside Tripoli is quieting. But as that battle ends, Lebanese officials are now accusing pro-Syrian Palestinian factions of stocking up on weapons and fresh fighters, possibly representing the next big challenge for the over-stretched and under-equipped Lebanese Army.

Both Lebanon and United Nations say that the 16 militant outposts held by pro-Syrian Palestinian factions, which lie outside the 12 established Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, are being reinforced with personnel and weapons smuggled in from Syria with the aim of sowing further instability.

Indeed, some of the very Fatah al-Islam militants that the Lebanese forces have been battling in the seven-week confrontation in the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp are believed to have received training at the Palestinian bases in the Bekaa Valley before deploying to north Lebanon.

"In recent weeks these camps have been reinforced with munitions, arms, and fighters," Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said recently. "Everyone knows that these groups are supported and armed by Syria."

These small military bases consist of a few huts, training grounds, and tunnels that are sunk into rocky hillsides. They have been largely ignored by Lebanese governments for more than three decades.

But Lebanon's anti-Syrian politicians now say Damascus is using local allies, such as the Palestinian factions, to stir more trouble for the American-backed government, which is already struggling to cope with a political crisis, a spate of deadly bombings, and the recent battles outside Tripoli.

The factions that look to Syria for support include the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC), Fatah Intifada, which broke from the mainstream Fatah movement in 1983, and As-Saiqa. All of the groups have headquarters in Damascus.

"After the Army lost nearly 100 soldiers against Fatah al-Islam, it cannot allow bases like Naameh to continue to exist where they can host another terrorist group. It would be a fatal mistake to allow them to stay," says a senior Lebanese Army officer who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Palestinian fighters on edge

At one outpost manned by the PFLP-GC just outside Naameh, tensions are running high.

The entrance to the compound, which consists of tunnels dug into the hillside beneath a war-damaged and long-abandoned factory, has been reinforced with new barricades and additional fighters. The approach is guarded by 15 heavily armed gunmen, some with faces hidden by checkered head scarves.

The gray-haired commander, Abu Amine, wears an old US Army uniform in desert camouflage and flip-flops. He says that the PFLP-GC and other allied groups need to protect themselves against the US and Israel. "The Americans and Zionists want us as slaves for their projects and to destroy our jihadist vision of defeating the Zionists," he says.

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