nahr Al-bared, Lebanon • The United States sent more ammunition yesterday to Lebanon, whose army is struggling to defeat a group of heavily armed Islamist militants holed up inside a Palestinian refugee camp.

The militant Fatah Al Islam group, which has vowed to fight to the death, said in a statement the US military supplies included nerve gas and cluster bombs. “If they use unconventional weapons against us, we will respond with unconventional attacks everywhere,” said the statement, read by the group’s spokesman Abu Salim Taha.

Meanwhile, a purported leader of Fatah Al Islam group, vowed to fight “the Americans and the Jews”. Al Jazeera television, which broadcast the videotaped message, identified the man as Shaker Al Abssi and said it was the Palestinian’s first public appearance. “We say to you, the guardians of the American project, the Sunni people will be leaders in fighting the Jews, the Americans and their loyalists,” Abssi said, referring to Lebanese leaders.

The channel also aired footage of what it described as training camps for the Islamist group. Abssi, bearded and wearing camouflage fatigues, was shown wrapping a black and white chequered scarf around his head. A young militant stood beside him, holding a machine gun.

Three US Air Force cargo planes landed at Beirut’s airport and unloaded ammunition and other equipment for the army, airport sources said. Six planes carrying similar military aid from the US and Arab allies arrived on Friday.

The shipments, promised months ago but rushed after fighting erupted between the army and Fatah Al Islam on May 20, arrived as Lebanese soldiers beefed up their positions around Nahr Al-Bared camp, the militants’ main base. Security forces searched buildings and houses in the nearby port city of Tripoli and other villages in search of militants who may have slipped through the cordon, security sources said.

A fragile truce between the combatants has held since Tuesday despite sporadic clashes. The fighting, the worst internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war, has killed at least 78 people — 33 soldiers, 27 militants and 18 civilians.

Thousands who fled the fighting are sheltering in a nearby refugee camp and other areas. Around 150 refugees, mostly women and children, left Nahr Al-Bared camp yesterday. “The situation inside is tragic. There is large-scale destruction. Our homes are in ruins,” Abdel A’al, a refugee, said, as he left the camp.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said it delivered three truckloads of food, water and candles to Nahr Al-Bared where at least 10,000 refugees remain. The ICRC also delivered 30 tonnes of food to 12,000 displaced refugees who moved to a nearby camp. Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Friday that storming Nahr Al-Bared would mark a ‘red line’ and would plunge the country into an uncontrollable cycle of violence.

reuters