2007 Lebanon conflict

Francois al-Hajj
Chamel Roukoz
Antoine Pano
Saleh Kais
Georges Nader
Georges Chreim
Hanna Makdessi

Shaker al-Abssi †
Abu Youssef Sharqieh (POW)
Abu Hureira †

Civilian casualties:
55 killed in the fighting,
12 killed in the bombings

The 2007 Lebanon conflict began when fighting broke out between

Lebanon hosts more than 400,000

Timeline

2007 Lebanon conflict
Timeline
Combatants
Fatah al-Islam Jund al-Sham Lebanese Armed Forces
Locations
Tripoli Nahr al-Bared Ain al-Hilweh
Related topics
Bikfaya bombings
v t e

May 20: Start of the fighting in Tripoli and Nahr al-Bared

Fighting began early in the morning after a police raid on a house in Tripoli which was apparently being used by militants from Fatah al-Islam. The militant group subsequently began shooting at the Lebanese security forces, who returned fire, triggering clashes in the vicinity of the

Tanks massed outside the Nahr al-Bared camp and started a ground offensive. The fighting was concentrated in the southern and northern entrances of the camp.[15] At least 19 people were killed, including three army soldiers.^[16] Among the dead was also a senior leader of Fatah al-Islam, Abu Riyadh, who was killed by a Lebanese army sniper.^[17] After 48 hours of fighting the battle was over and the Army was repelled.

June 9–12: Second Lebanese Army attack

After mediators failed to convince the Islamists to surrender, the Lebanese Army attacked Nahr el-Bared once again. The troops advanced 50 meters before they had to stop after taking heavy casualties due to booby-trapped buildings and other Fatah al-Islam positions that the militants left behind. In all 29 people were killed within 24 hours: 11 soldiers, 16 militants and 2 civilians. Another 100 soldiers were wounded. Some of the fighting was close-quarters and almost hand to hand.

On June 11, two Lebanese

June 16–19: Third Lebanese Army attack

The Lebanese Army continued the offensive and heavy bombardment hit the camp. On June 16, two Lebanese Gazelle helicopters fired four air-to-ground missiles at suspected militant positions inside the camp.^[18] In 48 hours the Army managed to take another six Fatah al-Islam positions. At this time the only aim of the military was to destroy all of the militant's positions on the outskirts of the camp, but the Army had no intention of going into the camp itself. On June 19, the Army finally managed to take all of the main positions of the Islamists. All of the buildings in the new (northern) part of the camp where the Fatah al-Islam fighters were dug in had been taken. Another seven soldiers were killed during this new round of fighting.

June 21: Outer parts of the camp fall

On June 21, the Lebanese defence minister reported that all of the Fatah al-Islam positions on the outlying areas of the camp, from which the militants were attacking soldiers, had been taken or destroyed. The only positions left were those in the center of the camp from where the militants posed no threat and thus the Army had no intention of attacking the center of the camp. With this it was declared that the Lebanese military operation to destroy Fatah al-Islam was over. However, heavy fighting still continued in the days ahead.

June 24–25: Renewed fighting in Tripoli & Nahr el-Bared

On June 24, for the first time since May 20, fighting erupted in Tripoli at an apartment building after a military raid on an Islamist militant cell that left 12 people dead. Among those killed were 7 non-Fatah militants, 1 soldier, 1 policeman and 3 civilians. Another 14 soldiers were wounded.^[19]

On June 28, the military found and engaged a group of Fatah al-Islam militants, in a cave in the mountains south of Tripoli, in fighting that killed 5 Islamists.^[20]

June 30: Jund al-Sham disbanded

On June 30, the Usbat Al-Ansar source said that 23 members of Jund Al Sham in the Ain Al Helweh camp on the outskirts of the port city of Sidon have joined up with Usbat at a meeting, while the rest had laid down their weapons. Usbat Al Ansar detained three other members of the group on suspicion of hurling a grenade at an army checkpoint, in an incident that caused no casualties.^[21]

July 12–24: Fourth Lebanese Army attack

On July 12, after a lull in the fighting, the Lebanese army launched a new assault, towards the center of the camp where the last battle positions of the Islamists were. They resumed with the bombardment of the camp and troops engaged the militants in heavy street fighting. 33 soldiers were killed and 93 wounded during the fighting among the ruins of the camp where the Islamist fighters were well dug in, and large parts of the camp were also booby-trapped.^[22]

On July 14, militants escalated the fighting by firing Katyusha rockets at towns surrounding the camp. One civilian was killed, and several were wounded.

On July 16, the Army managed to take a hill in the southern part of the camp which represented a highly strategic position.

By July 20, only 300 square yards had been left in the hands of the Islamists in the southern part of the camp. The army's advance was slowed down until they were able to defuse dozens of booby-traps left in the ruins of the camp by the Islamists.

July 25 – August 13: Fifth Lebanese Army attack

Soldiers moved into the fighting area under cover from artillery fire, tank fire and gunfire. A witness said this was the heaviest shelling of insurgent positions he had ever seen. A Lebanese source said the army was ready to make the final push and capture the last 250 yards (230 m) still in hands of the insurgents. About 130 people were believed to be holed up in the area, about 70 fighters and 60 civilians. The militants answered with the firing of a handful of Katyusha rockets at Lebanese villages near the camp.^[23]

On July 28, a tiny enclave in the already recaptured part of the camp was captured and the militants inside, 8 people, were killed. The surprise attack was carried out by elite units. Cannons and armored vehicles were driven into the camp to demolish fortified houses, bunkers and tunnels. General Michel Sulaiman added, that victory was imminent and only days away.^[24]

On August 2,

On August 8, it was reported the advance of the Lebanese troops was troubled by the smell of rotting corpses of slain militants who had not been buried, even weeks after their death. It was said the smell was so bad the air was unbreathable.[26]

August 17–23: Sixth Lebanese Army attack

In the days leading up to the latest assault on the militants, Gazelle attack helicopters bombed the Islamists' positions and bunkers.^[27] On August 17, the Army advances continued. A truce was made on August 24 to allow the 63 family members, 25 women and 38 children, of the Islamist fighters to leave the camp. This left a chance for a final assault on the militants by the army, and indications were that only 70 militants were left active in the camp, in reality almost 100 were still holed up. Air raids continued the next day.

August 30 – September 3: Final Lebanese Army attack

Heavy fighting continued on August 30 after the evacuation of the civilians and almost a week of heavy bombing raids from attack helicopters. More street battles occurred as the troops advanced further into the winding streets of the camp. By this point most of the subterranean shelters had been taken by the army but the militants still held their positions in bunkers and among the ruins of the camp. All the time during the latest attack the militants were issuing calls for a cease-fire so that some 35 wounded militants could be evacuated. The army did not accept the cease-fire. On September 1, the army managed to take the homes of Shaker al-Abssi and his deputy Abu Hureira, who was killed in July during the fighting. However, there was still no sign of Abssi himself.

September 2: Militant breakout and the fall of the camp

On September 2, militants launched a coordinated plan to escape from

Celebratory gunfire erupted in nearby villages as soon as the news of the army victory spread. Dozens of residents took to the streets of Mohammara, waving Lebanese flags and honking their horns as troop convoys poured into the area with soldiers flashing victory signs.

On September 3, Lebanese forces killed four militants and captured two in the area near the camp. The militants attacked soldiers looking for the fleeing fighters, wounding two of them and forcing the Lebanese soldiers to flee, but were finally killed by artillery fire which lasted for more than an hour. Six bodies of slain militants were found inside the camp.^[28]

Sporadic fighting continued near the camp until September 7. Lebanon then declared victory.^[29]

Bombings in and around Beirut

May 21: Fatah al-Islam claimed responsibility for two bombings that took place in Beirut.^[30] Then a spokesman for the group denied any responsibility for them.^[31]

A third bombing, in a Christian neighborhood northeast of Beirut called

May 23: A bomb went off near the main government building in Aley, a majority Druze town about 17 km northeast of Beirut. Reports said about five people were injured and a few buildings damaged by the blast. The security forces said the bomb was in a bag that had been left in front of a building close to a shopping district.^[32]

May 27: In Beirut, two policemen and two civilians were injured when a grenade was thrown in a mainly Muslim section of the city.^[33]

June 13: A car bomb hit Beirut's seafront Corniche al-Manara, killing

At least 446–457 people, including 168–179 soldiers and 226 militants, had been killed in the fighting during the 105-day siege of the camp.[4]^[5] Between 400 and 500 soldiers had been wounded^[6] and more than 215 militants had been captured.^[5]

Twelve Lebanese civilians were killed in terrorist bombings in and around Beirut, two soldiers and five militants were killed in the Ain al-Hilweh camp, seven non-Fatah Islamic militants were killed during a raid in Tripoli, and six U.N. soldiers were killed, while two were wounded in the bombing attack on the Israeli-Lebanon border.

55 civilians were killed in the fighting at the camp and in Tripoli,^[36][19] 47 of them Palestinians.^[37]

Most of the some 31,000 Palestinians that lived at the camp fled the fighting to other camps in the country.

Reactions

• Emile Lahoud called on all Lebanese to unite around the army.^[41] Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, a supporter of Lebanon's governing coalition, said there were "no proposals" for a military solution. "But we want the murderers handed over to Lebanese justice," he said.^[33]
• Palestinian refugee camps in accordance with Islamic law, or Sharia.^[40] In a video message released by the Fatah al-Islam leader he ruled out surrender. "O advocates of the US plan, we tell you that Sunnis will be a spearhead in fighting the Jews, Americans and their allies," he said.^[33]
• Minutes after the violence erupted, Syria temporarily closed two border crossings with northern Lebanon because of security concerns.^[13] Syrian leaders deny fomenting violence in Lebanon.^[40] Syria's ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar Jaafari, has denied his country had any links to the group, and said some of them had been in jail in Syria for their support of al-Qaeda.^[32]
• PLO.^[41]
• Hezbollah views extremist
  Lebanese army," he said, referring to the 2006 conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.^[44]
  "Are you willing to fight the wars of others inside Lebanon?" he asked his audience.
• Rafiq Hariri.^[40]
• Al-Qaeda released a statement saying: "Sons of Islam, o sons of the nation of Allah and Jihad, our brothers in the Nahr el-Bared camp in Lebanon are being subjected to the flagrant aggression of the army working for treason and apostasy, the Lebanese Army." They called on "every Muslim" to support Fatah al-Islam because it is seeking "a confrontation" with Israel.^[45]
  • An Al-Qaeda linked group based in Lebanon, accused the Lebanese government of embarking on a "crusade" after depriving its Palestinian inhabitants of basic rights.^[45]
  • Tawheed and Jihad in Syria, said Christians in Lebanon were part of a 'united crusader-Jewish front' directed against Muslims, and accused the "Lebanese army, government, intelligence branches and police" of being "the guard dogs of France and America." Calling upon its supporters to "support the jihad," the group also said: "We warn that if the Lebanese government does not lift its blockade, its sons living on Syrian territory will be considered moving targets," adding that it would carry out operations against Lebanese government officials citizens in Syria.^[46]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2007 Lebanon conflict.

• Siege of Beirut
• War of the camps
• February 13, 2007 Bikfaya bombings
• 2006–2007 Lebanese political protests
• 2006 Lebanon War
• List of wars involving Lebanon
• List of wars 2003-current
• List of modern conflicts in the Middle East

References