The Lebanese army said on Monday it lost 163 soldiers in battles against radical Islamist militants at a refugee camp in northern Lebanon and hundreds more were injured.
”We have 163 soldiers killed in the battles at the camp,” an army spokesperson said.
He said five of the soldiers died on Sunday in the final assault on the Sunni Muslim Fatah al-Islam militants, who had been engaged in a stand-off with the army since May 20.
The spokesperson also said that between 400 to 500 soldiers were injured in the fighting and many of them were permanently disabled. He could not specify how many were still in hospital.
He said the army was planning to hold special celebrations for the estimated 3 000 soldiers who fought at Nahr al-Bared, especially since this year’s Army Day on August 1 could not be properly commemorated because of the standoff.
”Once the soldiers finish the clean-up operations at the camp and leave the area to rejoin their bases, we expect that there will be a sort of military parade so that people along their route can thank them for their courage and sacrifice,” he said.
”I speak for every soldier when I say that this victory is equal in importance as to when Lebanon gained its independence,” he said.
The Nahr al-Bared siege marked Lebanon’s worst internal violence since the 1975 to 1990 civil war. — AFP
