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By Jim Muir
BBC News, outside Nahr al-Bared

Nahr al-Bared is called a camp but there are no tents here.

It is a dense urban sprawl along the coast north of Tripoli, Lebanon's second biggest city.

It is encircled by the Lebanese army, which is pounding the camp with artillery and tank fire as well as engaging the militants from Fatah al-Islam in heavy exchanges of machine gun and small arms fire.

These eruptions have been flaring up and dying away here all day.

It is not a sustained battle but it is not a truce either.

Informal ceasefire understandings have come and gone, but nothing is solid and there is growing concern now for the fate of thousands of civilians trapped inside the camp.

'History repeating itself'

Saad Touhan angrily holds out a piece of bloodied shrapnel. It passed through the stomach of her teenage daughter Manal, and wounded her in the hand as well.

There was no first aid she says, no doctors and no-one to help her daughter.

But Saad and Manal are among the few who have been evacuated to a hospital in another camp nearby.

Anisa Ismail, another evacuee, compares what is happening at Nahr al-Bared to famous atrocities at other Palestinian camps in Lebanon.

"This is history repeating itself. It's like the massacre at Sabra and Shatila. I lost my sister there. If they just want to hit Fatah al-Islam why are they cutting off the food and water and besieging us like this?¿

'Indiscriminate fire'

The hospital here is being run by Dr Yusif al-Sidi.

He describes the kind of patients that have been brought here from Nahr al-Bared so far.

"At the hospital we have many injured. There is chest injury and abdomen injury. We have five children who are dehydrated because they have been three days without water, without any food," he says.

Among the international organisations deeply concerned about the plight of the camp's civilians is Human Rights Watch.

"They've been running short on water, they haven't had electricity in three days," says the group's representative in Lebanon, Nadim Houry.

In addition to fires and attack from tanks and artillery shells, they also talk about sniper fire, so many people are actually afraid of leaving their basements and their homes to try to get supplies.

"Our second main concern has really been the use by the Lebanese army of indiscriminate weapons," Mr Houry says.

"The tanks and artillery they've been using are not very precise and when you use them in areas which are so densely populated - and the camp we're looking at is the second most densely populated camp in Lebanon with 30,000 people over one square kilometre - it's going to be very hard to avoid civilian casualties and actually they are not avoiding civilian casualties."

Back at Nahr al-Bared it is believed there are still many seriously injured who have not yet received attention.

But until there is a solid ceasefire and a lifting of the siege, they and other civilians stuck at the camp will remain in dire conditions.

it's such a SHAME that our SECULAR govts are murdering our own people just to APPEASE OUR REAL ENEMIES.........

REMEMBER.... JUST A YEAR AGO .... WHEN ISREAL ATTACKED LEBANON NOT A SINGLE TANK WAS ANYWHERE IN SITE....................... COWARD LOSERS!!!!!!!!!

Lebanon really needs to sort itself out. This country has been through so much, it's appalling. And the only people that suffer are innocents at the end of the day.

If these camps - containing mostly citizens - are considered "extremists" then what is the Israeli military and their recent actions considered?

The Lebanese army is a shameless little puppet....

Al Fatah (Educated and liberal Palestinians) and Israeli army have formed a coalition to exterminate all Palestinians.

It’s about time the Lebanese army also joined had with Israel to eliminate the Palestinian terrorists from Lebanon.

Every country has the right to defend it self from Palestinian radicals.

The USA is to HELP defend the Lebanese army from Palestinian radicals.

The Lebanese army just won't do anything, too much internal bickering and arguing going on.

Once again, it's a terribly sad state of affairs.

Lebanon requested Arab military aid after the fighting erupted.

The Shelling of the Palestinians in Lebanon
Nahr al-Bared Flees to Beirut


by Dr. Marcy Newman

May 26, 2007

As we walked in to Shatila refugee camp in Beirut this morning we were approached by a family from Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in Tripoli who was wandering the streets of the camp in search of a place to live. They fled the violence in their camp and made it to Beirut to seek shelter. This family is one of 100 families who are now residing in Palestinian homes inside Shatila camp, with around 30 people to each two-room flat on top of the already family living in these homes and some of these homes have no electricity.

Families fled with only the clothes on their back, and sometimes a small plastic bag of medications for people with chronic illnesses. Some left relatives behind in Nahr al-Bared because when their houses collapsed from the Lebanese army's bombing they lost their identity cards and thus cannot leave the camp or move about freely inside Lebanon. In nearby Mar Elias camp there are two families and in nearby Bourj al Barajneh refugee camp there are also 250 families (636 people) from Nahr al-Bared who are also camped on the floors of people's homes after fleeing the violence in their northern camp. Of these families many arrived with serious chronic illnesses. One woman fell down and needs an x-ray, but cannot afford it. Others need dialysis for kidney disease. Others suffer from diabetes and have no insulin. It felt ironic to be contending with the needs related to this new "occupation" of Palestinians in the north and their exodus given that today is Lebanon's national holiday honoring the end of the Israeli occupation of (most) of South Lebanon.

While the U.S., Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia sent military aid to reinforce the Lebanese army in their siege on Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, which was rekindled today with heavy shelling, we spent the day delivering humanitarian aid to refugees from Nahr al-Bared who are in Badawi camp, as well as in these three other Beirut-area refugee camps. We found three college students from Nahr al-Bared who attend Beirut Arab University and Lebanese American University whose house was destroyed by the Lebanese army; some of their relatives are in Badawi and some are missing. They had no money, no food, and could not pay their rent which is due on the first of the month; we gave them money to cover these expenses.

We sent a convoy up to Badawi with 200 tons of relief, including baby formula, diapers, and more medicine for Nahr al-Bared refugees staying in people's homes because they are not getting NGO aid, which is only being directed to the refugees living in the UNRWA schools. After assessing the situation in Shatila and Bourj al Barajneh camps we sent a doctor to follow up on the chronic illnesses and administer medications as needed. We found homes for five families who were homeless in Shatila. And we purchased hygiene and food kits for families in Shatila and Bourj al Barajneh camps, which should last each family one week and which will be delivered this morning.

The Lebanese army reported yesterday that only one Palestinian has died in Nahr al-Bared. In our brief mapping of the refugees from Nahr al Bared refugee camp, which is not anywhere near complete, we have found and confirmed the following people have been killed by the Lebanese army:

1. Montaha Kamal Khalil
2. Ahmad Daghloul
3. Ra'ed el Shans
4. Abd el Latif Al Kaza'
5. Oday Nser Ismail, 16 years old
6. Jihad Abo el Ez, 35 years old
7. Ashraf Akl, 30 years old
8. Adel Younes, a teacher, 50 years old
9. Lina Jabr, 18 years old, her house fell on her
10. Abo Leiman Bhnan
11. Sleiman Bhnan, a doctor
12. Nayef el Saleh
13. Amer Nadwa
14. Saeed Sleiman

The Lebanese army also bombed the following civilian institutions in Nahr al-Bared camp:

1. Jenin Medical Center
2. Amal Medical Center
3. Bayt el Maqdes
4. Palestine Center, Dr. Fathala
5. Khaled Ben Walid Mosque
6. Al Quds Mosque
7. Al Jalil Mosque

As the refugees continue flow into refugee camps around Lebanon, approximately 15,000 remain in Nahr al-Bared trapped for a variety of reasons. We will continue to administer aid through grassroots organizations on a house-to-house basis.