SIDON, Lebanon, Jun 4 (AFP): Deadly firefights raged near a Palestinian refugee camp in south Lebanon early Monday, opening a potentially dangerous new front for the army as it battles to crush Islamist militants in the north of the country.
Two soldiers and two Islamist extremists were killed in the overnight clashes near Ein al-Helweh, the largest of Lebanon's 12 refugee camps in the southern Mediterranean city of Sidon, a military spokesman said.
The fighting erupted as Lebanese troops continued to lay siege to another band of Al-Qaeda inspired militiamen in the Nahr al-Bared camp in the north of the country in a 16-day standoff that has left more than 100 people dead.
In a bid to contain the latest unrest, the army sent in more armoured vehicles around Ein al-Helweh and boosted security in Sidon where schools were closed, many shops remained shut and traffic was slow.
The fighting pitted troops against gunmen from Jund al-Sham (Soldiers of Damascus), a little known militant group mainly made up of Islamist Lebanese extremists, some of them wanted.
Palestinian factions, which have sole control over security in Ain al-Helweh as in all other camps across the country, were in contact with the Lebanese authorities to try to end the latest confrontations, local officials told the news agency.
The latest flareup has added to concerns that the violence could spread to more of Lebanon's 12 refugee camps, which hold more than half of the 400,000 Palestinians in the country, mostly in conditions of abject poverty.
A total of 107 people have now been killed in 16 days of bloodshed, the deadliest internal feuding since the 1975-1990 civil war that has added to tensions in a country already in the grip of an acute political crisis.
In the north, Lebanese troops to tighten the noose around militants holed up in the Nahr al-Bared camp, where both sides vowing to fight to the end.
Deadly fighting grips second Lebanon camp
FE Team | Published: June 05, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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