Lebanese Clashes Spread to Second Refugee Camp

Two soldiers died today as clashes between the Lebanese army and Palestinian militants spread to a second refugee camp in southern Lebanon.

Apart from the two Lebanese soldiers, one civilian and two militants from a group called Jund al-Sham were also killed at Ain al-Hilweh, Lebanon's biggest camp, security and military sources said.

The fighting at Ain al-Hilweh, which started yesterday, fueled fears that a two-week-long standoff between militants and Lebanese forces at the Nahr al-Bared camp in northern Lebanon will spread to other Palestinian refugee camps in the country.

The fighting is taking place at a time when the government is already in crisis over opposition demands for a greater say in the running of the country.

Jund al-Sham, which is Arabic for Soldiers of historic Syria, has claimed responsibility or been blamed for a number of bombings and gun battles, mainly in Lebanon and Syria. Syrian officials have portrayed Jund al-Sham as the most active militant group in their country.

The group has sided with Fatah al-Islam, the faction fighting the army at Nahr al-Bared, though there are no apparent organizational links between the two.

In north Lebanon, troops pounded Nahr al-Bared sporadically throughout the night. Fatah al-Islam fighters are still holding out, despite being vastly outgunned and outnumbered.

Since Friday, the army has conducted an intensive assault on Fatah al-Islam positions at the camp entrances with the aim of wiping out the militants, who reportedly have links to al-Qaida.

The violence, which erupted on May 20, is Lebanon's worst internal fighting since the 1975-1990 civil war. At least 113 people have died and about 25,000 of Nahr al-Bared's 40,000 refugees have fled due to worsening humanitarian conditions.

The government sees the fighting as a battle against terrorists and has accused the militants of sparking the fighting by attacking army positions near the camp and in Lebanon's second largest city, Tripoli.

The troops have seized and destroyed several positions of the Fatah al-Islam group and tightened their siege of the camp, 60 miles north of Beirut.

At least 10 soldiers have died since Friday in Nahr al-Bared, bringing the military death toll there to 44. More than 20 people - militants and civilians - have died in the camp since. Fatah al-Islam, which originally had about 100 men, said it has lost five fighters and about 36 in total.

Lebanon's anti-Syrian government 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.

While the army has not entered the camp's official boundaries, it has captured the militants' positions on its outskirts, confining militants to about a third of the camp. A 1969 agreement prevents the army from entering Lebanon's 12 Palestinian camps, home to 400,000 refugees.