Lebanese Claim Victory in Camp

Palestinians holding out in rubble

By Peter Fearon, Newser Staff

Posted Jun 22, 2007 4:38 AM CDT

Copied

Lebanese Claim Victory in Camp — A woman from the Palestinian Nahr el-Bared refugee camp near Tripoli, gives one of her daughters a mouthful of spaghetti bolognese from a donated lunch at the Loukman School in Tripoli, Lebanon, which is a temporary home for families to escape the fighting, Thursday, June 21, 2007. Food packages to... (Associated Press)

The Lebanese government has declared "mission accomplished" in its month-long battle against al-Qaeda-spawned militants in a Palestinian refugee camp. The siege left 166 dead and destroyed much of the Nahr al-Bared camp in northern Lebanon, in some of the worst fighting the country has seen since its 15-year-long civil war.

Lebanese soldiers still have the camp surrounded, demanding the surrender of Fatah al-Islam militants along with their charismatic leader, Shaker al-Abssi, whom some claim was killed in the past weeks' clashes. "If he is dead, give us the body," the Lebanese defense minister said in a public address. (Read more Lebanon stories.)