Lebanon army resumes camp assault
Helicopters and tanks launch raids on Fatah al-Islam after relatives are evacuated.
He said the wife and child of Shaker Youssef al-Absi, Fatah al-Islam’s leader, are among those who have left Lebanon.
The remaining women and children went to two other Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon – Badawi near the northern city of Tripoli and Ain al-Hilwa near the southern port city of Sidon, al-Haj said.
Two of the children evacuated received hospital treatment after leaving the camp and three women had been injured, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said.
Up to 70 Fatah al-Islam fighters are thought to still be in Nahr al-Bared [AFP] |
Small numbers of troops have entered the outskirts of Nahr al-Bared but the heart of the camp has remained off-limits.
Zeina Khodr, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Lebanon, said: “Some sources are telling us [the evacuation] could be a test. Fatah al-Islam would like to see how the Lebanese army deals with the families to see whether there could be a possibility for surrender.”
Abdel Aziz Khoja left on August 17 after the embassy formally notified the Lebanese foreign ministry of a “threat of attack against the ambassador’s residence, the embassy or other Saudi interests in Lebanon”, the official said.
The Saudi embassy declined all comment but Khoja told the Saudi-owned Asharq Al-Awsat daily that “there were threats against Saudi embassy and against my person”.
The ambassador had already been threatened four or five times in the past, the daily said.