Almost there....

For what seems like weeks, the Lebanese army has been saying that they are about to clear out the "remaining Fatah al-Islam" fighters.

This is from today's As-Safir newspaper, translation courtesy of NOW Lebanon:

"The Nahr al-Bared camp witnessed yesterday the heaviest artillery shelling since the clashes started 67 days ago as the army artillery pieces targeted the remaining geographical location that is still under the control of Fatah al-Islam militants (an estimated 40 % of the old camp surface area). Thousands of artillery shells fell on the area from around 4 A.M. yesterday until the evening at a rate of 10 artillery shells per minute, which represents a record since the clashes erupted on May 20."

So 40% of the camp's surface area are what remains of Fatah al-Islam's position. And ten shells per minute averages at one ever six seconds, right? No wonder nothing will be left of the camp.

Meanwhile, many pictures surface of the life of Lebanese army soldiers during the crisis (of course we still don't know much about the life of refugees still inside the camp, or inside Beddawi camp; this information remains confined to blog reporting, such as from Golaniya). This is an example taken from Beirut Spring:

Finally...

...someone (a Lebanese person) is saying something sensible about the situation of Palestinians in the country...

The problem of the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon is not an Arab or an international problem, it is a Lebanese problem and it is up to us to solve it once and for all. Urgently.

Rubber bullet watch site

In a previous post on this blog I had written about the German police's wish to use rubber bullets against protesters, after having met a guy who was almost killed by one. Now check this out - the UN bans the use of rubber bullets in Kosovo after accidentally killing two protesters with such bullets. They were well past their sell-by date. This is so typically UN - people get killed by inertia.

PRISTINA, Serbia, July 3 (Reuters) - The United Nations is considering banning the use of rubber bullets in peacekeeping operations after the killing of two protesters in Kosovo, U.N. police in the province said on Tuesday.

... The bullets were manufactured in 1991 and had a shelf life of three years. A police report said they had "probably hardened" with age.

Quote of the Day, if not the next 3 Months, if not the Year

I have always admired people who manage to find quotes by wise/experienced/dead/witty people to express what they want to say. Today one such quote has mysteriously made its way to me, courtesy of the Daily Star newspaper, a Lebanese daily otherwise famous (to me, at least) for its unintentionally funny headlines. Check out these words of wisdom from Abbas Zaki, the official PLO representative in Lebanon:

'Zaki stressed that the situation in Nahr al-Bared should resolve itself as quickly as possible and urged the Fatah al-Islam fighters to lay down their arms and surrender. "The Lebanese judicial system is the fairest in the world," Zaki said.'

It requires no further comment, I believe.