The Lebanese army closed in on positions of Fatah al-Islam militants holed up in the besieged refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared on Saturday after two days of heavy fighting. The Lebanese soldiers exchanged machine-gun fire with the militants at the Palestinian camp in north Lebanon, which was coming under heavy army bombardment early Saturday.
A spokesman said the army has further closed in on the Islamists who were now only controlling an area 300 meters by 600 meters on a small hill inside the camp. The state-run National News Agency said the army made advances on the eastern flank of the camp. "The battle is nearing the decisive phase, and the military solution will not take much longer ... We should expect a sudden collapse of Fatah al-Islam," Sultan Abul Aynayn, head of the mainstream Fatah movement, was quoted as saying by the AFP.
Three more soldiers were killed in the latest clashes, and another died of wounds from fierce fighting on Thursday, an army spokesman said, raising to 11 its losses in two days. Military sources said the body of another soldier killed in the camp on Thursday was retrieved. They said 50 soldiers were also wounded on Friday.
Meanwhile, Lebanon's rival parties open French-sponsored talks near Paris Saturday afternoon to try to ease the country's ongoing political crisis. An Nahar newspaper said that the two-day meeting, which is hosted by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner in the Saint-Cloud suburb, will focus on three major issues: the government, the presidency and parliamentary elections law.
French officials say they hope the informal talks, away from the media, will produce a relaxed atmosphere that could mark the beginning of restored dialogue.
