Lebanon continues attack on wicked al Qaeda ops

AP/NY Times:

The Lebanese air force on Saturday joined tanks and artillery in pounding Islamic militant hideouts on the second day of an intensifying offensive to uproot al-Qaida-inspired gunmen barricaded in a Palestinian refugee camp.

A French-made Gazelle helicopter fired two missiles and directed machine gun fire at suspected militant hideouts on the western edge of the Noah el-Bared camp near the Mediterranean coastline, in an apparent attempt to block any sea escape route.

It was the first time the army used its limited air force capability in the battle, signifying the intensity of the ground fighting. The army has helicopters, but no fixed wing aircraft.

Three more soldiers were killed and five wounded Saturday, military officials said, leaving the army with five dead and 15 wounded since the offensive began Friday when tanks and armored vehicles rolled under heavy artillery bombardment to seize positions in the camp's outer neighborhoods. After a lull in fighting Friday evening, the army renewed its offensive Saturday morning with artillery and machine gun fire, sending plumes of smoke up over the camp.

Lebanese security officials said dozens of militants from the Fatah Islam group had been killed or wounded in the fighting since Friday, but a senior militant commander said only two fighters had been wounded since the fighting began.

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The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, said Nahr el-Bared and its surrounding areas were divided into three zones, one under the effective control of the army, one held by the militants and a third zone controlled by civilians and Palestinian guerrilla factions refusing refuge to the militants.

Separately, an army statement Saturday said militants were taking up positions in mosques and humanitarian organizations and storing weapons there, using the remaining civilian population as ''human shields'' to stir up Muslims. The statement stressed the army was only targeting the militants.

The army would not speak about movements on the ground, but an army officer at the edge of the camp said Saturday that troops were continuing their operation. ''We continue advancing today and hopefully we will end it. More than this we can't say.'' The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

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Note how subtlety the mention of the use of human shields and humanitarian organizations by the terrorist is buried in the story. It is as if the AP is reluctant to mention the war crimes of al Qaeda and the wickedness of their tactics. On the other hand the story does not play into the victim strategy of the enemy as is usually done when the US or Israel is fighting these people. In fact the Lebanon's army seems to be good at countering that strategy and the AP takes their statements as credible. It usually does not do the same for Israel. Still we don't have the victim photo shoot that you see when Hezballah aggression is responded to.