Lebanon may gain new muscle after camp victory


by Nayla Razzouk
Mon Sep 3, 12:32 PM ET



BEIRUT (AFP) - The Lebanese army's victory over an Islamist militia in a Palestinian refugee camp may help the government extend its authority over other off-limits camps, poverty-stricken shantytowns that have become breeding grounds for extremism, analysts said on Monday.

Troops may have crushed Fatah al-Islam in Nahr al-Bared in a final showdown on Sunday, but fears persist that violence may spread through the country's dozen camps where hardline groups have gained influence as their impoverished residents despair of ever seeing an end to their plight.

"Fatah al-Islam has been defeated. But every 'martyr' and every event is a source of inspiration for new jihadists," said Bernard Rougier, a French expert on jihadist movements.

"There is no reason for the jihadist movement to stop in Lebanon, or that it is used by some parties for their own interests," he told AFP on a visit to Lebanon on Monday.

Fatah al-Islam first surfaced in the seafront camp of Nahr al-Bared late last year, triggering the drawn-out standoff with the army after attacking military posts in and around the camp on May 20.

Its fighters, who are said to be inspired by Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda terror network, are of various Arab nationalities, not just Palestinian.

MP Farid al-Khazen, political science professor at the American University of Beirut, said it was the absence of Lebanese government authority over the camps -- which under a tacit agreement were in the control of armed Palestinian groups -- that allowed a militia like Fatah al-Islam to spawn.

"After this costly battle, there cannot be any justification to keep these security islands outside government control, especially as today there is no link between the armed presence inside the camps and the struggle to regain occupied Palestinian lands," he told AFP.

But Khazen said extending government control to the camps was not easy to achieve, nor likely in the near future.

"It needs a big political momentum. It is a delicate matter that needs a strong government and a more stable situation than today when the country is going through a deep political crisis and is facing looming presidential elections," he said.

Prime Minister Fuad Siniora insisted on Sunday that Nahr al-Bared would be under the sole authority of Lebanese security forces.

Lebanon's 12 Palestinian refugee camps, which house well over half of the country's more than 400,000 refugees, have been off-limits to the army for decades under a 1969 accord even though it was annulled by parliament in 1987.

Three days after the fighting erupted, the Palestine Liberation Organisation representative in Lebanon, Abbas Ziki, said the PLO would not object if the Lebanese army decided to send troops into the camp.

But it took the army weeks of bombardments from outside the camp -- as well as much political wrangling -- before troops moved in to Nahr al-Bared, the first such move by the military in decades.

"The PLO leadership as the representative of the Palestinians in Lebanon is adamant that the Palestinians and the camps in Lebanon be under Lebanese authority," Ziki's deputy Kamal Nagi told AFP.

"When the residents of the camp return, we will reach an understanding on all issues, primarily on security," he said.

Nagi said "any security breach may drag the camps into troubles, so we will cooperate with the government and the army to prevent any party from harming the security of the camps."

But Rougier said threats from Islamist extremists were not exclusive to the Palestinian camps.

"Lebanon is not safe from these movements. Lebanon is not safe from terrorism, especially that it is being mentioned by many jihadists, including (Al-Qaeda's fugitive number two) Ayman Zawahiri," he said.

"But I don't think there will be problems with hihadist movements from inside the other Palestinian camps, as they have become more realistic and have gained experience in the political game," he said.

"After what happened in Nahr al-Bared, they will not jeopardise their enclaves, in addition to the fact that there is a lot of vigilance from stabilisation forces both inside and outside the camps," he said.