This post could also be titled as BBC Watch, because it is very funny how they write about the situation in the refugee camp:
Thousands of people have used a night-time lull in fighting between troops and Islamist militants to flee a refugee camp in northern Lebanon.
Palestinians in Nahr al-Bared had been trapped for three days as Lebanese army troops exchanged fire with Fatah al-Islam fighters holed up in the camp.
At least 50 soldiers and militants have died. The civilian toll is unknown.
UN head of humanitarian affairs John Holmes appealed to the warring sides to allow aid supplies into the camp.
He said it was outrageous that a relief convoy which had entered the camp on Tuesday had been forced to turn back after shells exploded near its vehicles.
There are two very interesting things in this part of the news:
- the Islamist terrorists are called militants and fighters, as if they were some kind of wonderful saviors. As I posted yesterday, the people are turning these
terroristsaffable murderers to the authorities. They are there ONLY because the troops are not allowed inside the camp and are using Palestinian refugees as human shields. I make the same question as yesterday: Why this is not told by BBC? -yesterday it was Yahoo!-Reuters-. - And the second is even more outrageous: the aid supplies were bombed by the fighters who were trying that the Palestinians did not get out of the camp. They even did not want the evacuation of the wounded.
From Beirut to the Beltway has written about the last events in Lebanon (h/t Blacksmiths of Lebanon):
The Lebanese army is acting to “finish off” the terrorists in the Nahr El Bared refugee camp, after receiving a green light Monday from the Lebanese cabinet, and political cover from the Palestinian factions, who are now concerned about the civilian death toll. The army is now reportedly moving into the camp and arresting some of the terrorists.
[…] According to As-Safir, an ISF investigation into a bank robbery accidentally led the police to an apartment in Tripoli that members of Fatah al-Islam used as a base. The Islamists reacted to the police operation by attacking a Lebanese army post near the Nahr El Bared refugee camp, slaughtering 17 Lebanese army soldiers in their sleep, and ambushing others on leave in Qalamoun and Koura. The terrorists’ weapon of choice: suicide attacks. As-Safir said the ISF and the Army intelligence had been monitoring the movements of Fatah al-Islam for months. They succeeded in apprehending over a dozen members, but the camp was off limits to them.
The terrorist group, implicated in a terrorist attack last February, and reportedly charged with killing politicians and attacking UNIFIL troops, as well as killing “crusaders and Zionists”, had been trying to extend its zone of influence to the international highway connecting Lebanon to Syria. The group often clashed with other Palestinian factions, especially Fatah, which accused it at various points in time of being controlled by Syrian intelligence. There have been attempts by local camp leaders to hand over suspects in the Ain Alaq bombings to the Lebanese authorities, but these attempts failed.
Read all the post. Nothing to do with BBC coverage…
Finally the UN and Red Cross convoys have entered and they keep on being shot by terrorists militants. There are 4 dead.
And attention to this comment:
Beirut mood report: Today the traffic was very light, people are scared, they fear leaving home and not coming back, there’s a tense mood in the air. It was calm. People noticed a change in the tonality of the Palestinian parties, this caused fears, yesterday the Palestinian parties said they want to end the terrorist group, but today rallies were held in the camps against the government of Saniora and the Leb army. The word on the street is that Damascus put enormous pressure on Palestinians especially Hamas to change the tonality of their statements…God Help Lebanon
Hmm, not surprising. These terrorists militants have been killing Palestinians (even using them as human shields!!) and, instead of confronting them, they are confronting the Lebanese army…
And this other one about the Fatah al-Islam leader asking and obtaining help from Syria.
You can go and read the comments. They are very interesting.
Global Voices Online has a roundup on Lebanese bloggers and their view on the situation. Read all of them. There are opinions of all sorts. 😉
Here there is more about the Aschrafief bombing.
The American Thinker writes about the leader of the group:
al-Abssi was sentenced to death along with al-Zarqawi in Jordan for assassinating the United States diplomat Laurence Foley, he was freed from a Syrian jail where he had spent three years for plotting terrorist attacks there. Released last fall, he made his way immediately to the northern Lebanese refugee camp Nahr el-Bared where he began to recruit not only Palestinians but also Arab fighters and jihadists from as far away as Chechnya.
A very good and peaceful guy. A true alliancetor [Zapatero’s registered trade mark 🙂 ]
More in Good neighbours Blog. h/t Extreme Centre.org.
And last news are that… UN condemns Lebanon for disproportionate response. Hmm, no mention to the human shields also, a very important thing, because if someone is shooting you from behind a woman, what would you do? And what would you do if that same someone is shooting to other civilians from behind the same woman?
Blaming the troops for that is very easy, but from my point of view is not the solution. The first condemnation -and the most important one- should be given to the terrorists and their blackmail of innocent civilians. But the UN Secretary General does a good work on considering the Lebanese Army equal to the terrorists. I am not the least surprised. I have had a very bad opinion of Ban Ki-Moon since he was elected and I knew his position of Kim Il Jong. Appeasement in full extent…
(UPDATE): You can also see the video Chaim links. Attention to Abbas’s permission to enter the camp…
Previous post: Lebanon vs. Al-Qaeda and Fatah al-Islam.
Lebanon vs Al-Qaeda and Fatah-al-Islam
Un update on Lebanese situation, including the UN condemnation for disproportionate response to the Lebanese Army, the continuous attacks on aid convoys and the Fatah Al-Islam gunmen using Palestinians as human shields.
Lebanon vs Al-Qaeda and Fatah al Islam (II)
Un update on Lebanese situation, including the UN condemnation for disproportionate response to the Lebanese Army, the continuous attacks on aid convoys and the Fatah Al-Islam gunmen using Palestinians as human shields. But as ever, the BBC does not di…
Good post Vor.
It’s not just BBC, read some AP or AFP dispatches on terrorists (err millitants) sometime, it’s quite sickening.
The BBC is, of course, the most biased, but all of them have their moments 🙂
Thanks Lord 😉
In yesterday’s post there was a link to Yahoo! News that had the same ingredients, though this of BBC was specially inaccurate.
I am going to write about SPanish newspapers and this subject one of these days… They are -with few exceptions- as BBC… 😦
Lbano contra Al-Qaeda y Fatah al-Islam
No slo el Mundo (como nos cuenta Doce Doce) es parcial y no cuenta la verdad. Si ayer criticaba a AP (Yahoo! News) hoy podemos desde luego criticar a la BBC por cmo describe la situacin en el campo de refugiados:
As UN approves the creation of a special tribunal to try suspects, Hezbulah and Syria take positions
The United Nations Security Council has approved the creation of a special tribunal to try suspects in the killing of Rafiq Hariri, Lebanon’s former prime minister.
UN sets up tribunal over Hariri killing
Reuters – Syria could spark trouble in L…