Thursday, July 26, 2007

The Never-ending Siege

Is till going on. This has to be a record holder for mopping up operations. Taken from the Jerusalem Post
Lebanese army troops unleashed barrages of artillery and tank shells Wednesday at Islamic militants in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon, witnesses and security officials said. In some of the heaviest bombardment of Nahr el-Bared in weeks, army cannons fired shells at a rate of 8 to 10 every minute at suspected Fatah Islam positions inside the camp. The shelling could be heard in the nearby port city of Tripoli, witnesses said.

The army action, which began at dawn Wednesday, follows days of low intensity fighting during which soldiers continued to push their way deeper into the camp, seizing weapons and other military equipment from tunnels dug by the militants A senior military official said Wednesday that two soldiers were killed in military operations a day earlier, raising to 118 the number of troops killed since fighting with the al-Qaida-inspired militants broke out in the camp on May 20.

The “militants” are still firing Katyusha rockets. At the rate the Lebanese soldiers are falling the army should be depleted by the time Fatah with the Islam is “defeated” and the siege ends.

1 comment:

Michael said...

At the rate the Lebanese soldiers are falling the army should be depleted by the time Fatah with the Islam is “defeated” and the siege ends

Depends on the size of Fatah al-Islam. The Lebanese Army isn't doing so hot, however; it's costing them about 3 soldiers for every terrorist and civilian they kill...