Three-month siege of Lebanon camp ends

Townspeople and troops in Mohammara took to the streets in relief and celebration, waving Lebanese flags and flashing victory signs.

In a televised speech to the country, Prime Minister Fuad Saniora declared victory over Fatah Islam, calling the final battle the “greatest national victory for Lebanon over the terrorists in Nahr el-Bared”.

The fate the Fatah Islam leader Shaker al-Absi was not confirmed. A security official said a Palestinian Islamic cleric, who was among a group that negotiated with the militants during the fighting, recognised a body in a hospital as that of al-Absi. Authorities sent for his wife to identify him while a DNA test was being conducted to confirm the identity.

As news of Fatah Islam’s collapse spread, dozens of residents in the village sounded car hooters and threw rice as convoys of Lebanese troops poured into the area with soldiers atop armoured vehicles flashing victory signs.

Thousands took to the streets in nearby Tripoli and other towns and fireworks were seen across the country, including in Beirut.

“The army has triumphed. They are our defenders,” screamed Mohammed Ali Masri, 32, beating a drum, sweat dripping off his face as he celebrated in Mohammara, a farming community next to the camp.

The celebrations cut through Lebanon’s deep political divisions, with both pro-government and opposition praising the army. President Emile Lahoud said the army “has achieved what superpowers could not in confronting terrorism”.

Saniora called the victory “an hour of pride, victory and joy with regard to the sacrifices offered by our country and martyrs.”

A total of 158 troops died in the Nahr el-Bared conflict – Lebanon’s worst internal fighting since the 1975-90 civil war.

Today’s battles were triggered when militants broke out of the camp around dawn, and troops hunted them down in buildings, fields and roads around Nahr el-Bared.

The breakout began when militants sneaked through an underground tunnel to an area of the camp under army control and fought with troops.

Helicopters provided aerial reconnaissance, and checkpoints were erected as far as Beirut and in southern Lebanon around another Palestinian refugee camp that is a hotbed for Islamic militants.

Residents of nearby villages, armed with guns and sticks, fanned out to protect their houses and prevent militants from seeking refuge and melting into the local population. Smoke billowed from fields near the camp where residents said the army set fire to bushes to deny militants a hiding place.

Mohammed Khodor Najib, 65, spoke proudly about how he captured a militant in Mohammara. “I found one of them hiding in my garden,” he said. Using a hunting rifle, he opened fire. “I hit him and handed him over to the army,” he said.

By late afternoon, only the occasional gunfire could be heard from Nahr el-Bared, hours after the officials said the army killed 39 militants and captured at least 15 others when they broke out of the camp and attempted to flee.

Security officials said five other wounded militants were captured in the last area of Nahr el-Bared held by Fatah Islam.

It was not immediately known how many militants managed to escape. Before today, Lebanese officials had said up to 70 Fatah Islam militants remained in the bombed out camp – down from an estimated 360 fighters when the battle erupted on May 20.

The army had been inching its way into the camp over the past months under artillery and rocket fire, destroying buildings and capturing militants’ positions while facing stiff resistance from the fighters.

The Nahr el-Bared battle has also killed more than 20 civilians. Families of the militants, women and children, were evacuated late last month, the last civilians to leave the camp.

The army today declared the camp a closed military area, urging the thousands of Palestinian refugees who have fled Nahr el-Bared not to return to their homes before operations are completed.