NAHR AL-BARED, Lebanon (Reuters) - Lebanese troops unleashed artillery and tank barrages at al Qaeda-inspired militants dug-in at a Palestinian refugee camp on Sunday, the third day of a military assault to crush the gunmen. The troops had seized and destroyed several positions of the Fatah al-Islam group at the entrances of Nahr al-Bared and were tightening their grip on them, security sources said. But the militants, who have vowed to fight to the death, were putting up stiff resistance despite three days of near constant pounding from army tanks, artillery and gunships. Explosions rocked the camp as the crackle of machinegun fire echoed. Plumes of smoke rose from the camp as shelling set buildings on fire. A mid-morning lull was shattered shortly after noon by more fierce army bombardment. A Palestinian source had said of the pause: "It could be the calm before the storm." The lull allowed relief workers to evacuate a wounded civilian from the camp, witnesses said. The shelling since Friday has devastated large parts of the camp, bringing down buildings used by the gunmen to fire at the troops but also destroying many civilian homes. "There is no square metre that has not been hit by a shell," one camp resident told Reuters by telephone earlier. "We can't leave the building we are in, let alone the street, to find out the full extent of the devastation." Most of Nahr al-Bared's nearly 40,000 population had fled to other refugee camps in the past two weeks due to increasingly desperate humanitarian conditions. A soldier was killed in overnight fighting and two wounded soldiers died, security sources said, raising to nine the number of soldiers killed since Friday. Palestinian sources said a militant commander, Naim Ghali aka Abu Riyadh, was killed by an army sniper on Saturday. More than 16 people -- militants and civilians -- have died in the camp. Fatah al-Islam said it has lost three fighters. THREAT TO PEACEKEEPERS? In what was seen as a direct threat against U.N. peacekeepers in south Lebanon, the militants' spokesman, Abu Salim Taha, told Reuters on Saturday night that a UNIFIL naval force joined the fighting, hitting a civilian shelter and inflicting casualties. A UNIFIL spokeswoman denied the peacekeepers played any role in the fighting and said the claim was "utterly unfounded". The fighting, which erupted on May 20, is Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war. The government says militants triggered the siege by attacking army positions around the camp and Lebanon's second largest city, Tripoli. Lebanon's anti-Syrian cabinet says Fatah al-Islam is a Syrian tool, but Damascus denies any links to the group and says its leader, Shaker al-Abssi, is on Syria's wanted list. Abssi and his comrades say they are inspired by al Qaeda's ideology. Lebanon has been split by a deep seven-month-old political crisis over the opposition's demands for more say in government. The opposition includes Syria's allies, led by Hezbollah. The army began its push towards the camp on Friday with the aim of killing the militants or forcing them to surrender. Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said the militants have no choice but to surrender and give up their arms. Fatah al-Islam has vowed not to surrender or give up its weapons, saying it was ready to fight for a long time. The death toll in the two-week-old conflict stood at 110, of whom 44 are soldiers, and at least 35 are militants and 20 are civilians. While the army has not entered the camp's official boundaries, it has seized on the militants' positions on its outskirts, confining militants to about a third of the camp. A 1969 Arab agreement prevents the army from entering Lebanon's 12 Palestinian camps, home to 400,000 refugees.
And My Point The World Is already Burning. What we need to worry about is how long before we Burn out
Don't worry, the world ends in about three days. But yeah, Frost said it. I've heard it all before, most news on the television is bad and nothing much shocks us anymore. It is sad that people interpret many things differently to others and it's sad that there is war and there is so much... hmm.. I better not go on, this whole ting is a mess. Does anybody know why humans do this to themselves?
i do... it's because they're the stupidest species on the planet... possibly in the universe... is it any wonder that if aliens have been coming here for millennia, they haven't do so publicly?... i mean, c'mon... if you went to another planet that teemed with life and saw that the supposed superior species there acted like humans do, would you just walk up to them and say, 'Hi, there...we come in peace!'?
I am rather fond of the species, myself. Humans are far from perfect. They wage war over scarce resources, they can be mean and petty and selfish. But they also dream of greatness, and reach for it. I will never forget how Americans came together right after 9/11, committing numerous small and large kindnesses to strangers. Humans gaze at the stars, and into their souls, to ask "Why?" They create works of beauty, both mercurial as a street performance and as timeless as the Pyramids. Of old, Perseus defeated the Medusa by seeing its distorted reflection, so the horror did not turn him to stone. I think a modern Perseus would look upon the Medusa and see the beauty in the monster, and thus remain untouched by the pertifying magics.
When you've seen the destruction our species is capable of then and only then will you understand the meaning of what we are. If anything we are a race on the verge of self destruct how many other species can youn think of that would cause Genocide of their own race.
That doesn't make us stupid. In a sense, that only proves our intelligence. What other species is capable of bringing about their own end?
well there you have it. But as said war is a fact of live for some and some of us chose to fight. Who will defend the innocent and helpless.
You totally just gave me an awesome idea for a story. Thanks. While we're on that line, I think yes, the world has definitely become desensitized to violence as a whole. And the news doesn't help. They treat violence as raitings. Someday, we'll hear this commercial: "Breaking News: The entire world to be destroyed at eight o' clock tonight! For more information, tune into News At Nine!" >.<
