Lebanese Army Surrounds Militants - New York Times

Lebanese Army Surrounds Militants - New York Times: "TRIPOLI, Lebanon, June 2 — Heavy shelling and gunfire continued for the second day at the Nahr al Bared refugee camp, as the Lebanese Army intensified its offensive against the Fatah al Islam militia.

Three soldiers were killed and 15 were wounded in the fighting by Saturday afternoon, the army reported, raising the number of the army’s deaths from the two-day offensive to six.

Dozens of militants from Fatah al Islam, a group inspired by Al Qaeda, have also been killed or wounded, the army said. But that figure could not be independently verified, and it was not immediately clear how many victims were fighters and how many were civilians trapped in the camp.

Reports have estimated that about 8,000 of what was once 40,000 Palestinian refugees may still be in the camp.

By midday, the army had wrested control of all the positions held by the militants outside the camp and had destroyed many sniping positions in the camp, stopping short of actually crossing into the official boundaries of the camp, the military said.

“The army is now fighting on the exterior lines and the militants are fighting on the interior lines,” said Elias Hanna, a former general in the army. “They are trying to squeeze them inside their circle.”" Read complete post here.