2007 Lebanon conflict: Difference between revisions

On September 2, militants launched a coordinated plan to escape from [[Nahr al-Bared]]. The fighting began when militants on the eastern and southern edge of the camp attacked army checkpoints. Militants also had help from outside the camp. The attack on the eastern edge of the camp started after a Mercedes car pulled up at an army checkpoint from outside around 04:00 AM and began firing at soldiers as fighters launched an attack from inside the camp. At the same time militants attacked another checkpoint on the southern edge of the camp. Some of them were wearing army uniforms. Three militant groups attempted the breakout. One group tried to escape by sea and its members were killed or captured by the army. A second group tried to flee from the north of [[Nahr al-Bared]] and met the same fate. The leader of [[Fatah al-Islam]], [[Shaker al-Abssi]], was believed to be in the third group that followed the path of a river running between the southeastern part of the camp and the village of [[Ayun al-Samak]] in a remote mountainous region. Several members of that group were killed but most of them escaped. The whole militant leadership was thought to have escaped. It was later confirmed that al-Abssi actually fled the camp a day before the breakout. His fate remains unknown. The army said 35 militants managed to break the cordon and flee, but most of them were killed or captured in the coming days. The fighting lasted from dawn through early afternoon with troops engaging Fatah al-Islam fighters in buildings, fields and roads around the Nahr al-Bared camp. Up to 38 militants, five soldiers and one civilian were killed and 24 militants were captured. The camp finally fell by 11:00 AM.