DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - LEBANON: FATAH AL-ISLAM FINISHED, ALL THAT IS LEFT IS MOPPING UP

Lebanon: Fatah al-Islam defeated, military operation is over
By The Associated Press

Lebanon's defense minister said Thursday that Islamic militants holed up in a north Lebanon refugee camp have been defeated and that the month-long military operation is over, except for mopping up.

"The Lebanese army has crushed those terrorists," Defense Minister Elias Murr said in a television interview late Thursday.

"I can notify the Lebanese that the military operation is over," he said. What is happening now is some cleanup ... and dismantling some mines."

"The Lebanese army has destroyed all Fatah al-Islam positions," Murr declared on the private Lebanese Broadcasting Television.

However, a few hours before he spoke sporadic battles continued in the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp outside the northern port city of Tripoli.

Murr said the camp would remain a theater of operations and under siege "until they [remaining fighters] surrender."

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Pertinent Links:

1) Lebanon: Fatah al-Islam defeated, military operation is over