Sunday, June 03, 2007

Running around

As I am kind of constantly running around the Nahr al Baret camp, there is hardly a way to update this blog for now.

Just a couple of points:

- Last 24 hours: less heavy shelling and a more machine gun fire. It is obvious that the Lebanese army is getting more and more inside the camp, fighting house to house battles with Fatah al Islam militants.

- The camp is not entirely destroyed (yet), but there is massive damage to buildings.

- Latest death toll (according to my sources): Lebanese government side: 6 killed, 40 wounded. Fatah al Islam side: unknown. Civilians: unknown.

- Two reliable sources told me that parts of Fatah (PLO) inside the Nahr al Baret camp have joined ranks with Fatah al Islam. Percentage of the split is unclear. And beware: this is NOT an independently confirmed report. According to one source: between 1200 and 2000 fighters are now fighting the Lebanese army on a one square kilometer part of the camp (which is still a rather large area).

- Journalists are not allowed inside the camp, we are camping just outside the camp. (Luckily a little bakery is still open, so we at least wont die of hunger).

Harald Doornbos

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