Killing Time in Lebanon

Assault rifle-wielding Internal Security Forces arrived at my birthday party last night at around 2 am to tell us to turn the music down. Apparently, a neighbor complained, which while understandable, is also unusual for a Friday night in Beirut, where a wild party is normally the least of anyone's concerns.

But unbeknownst to my roommate and myself, there apparently is an 11 pm curfew on parties while the city is in the grip of a bombing campaign probably perpetrated by Fatah al Islam, a radical militant group currently doing battle with the Lebanese army in a Palestinian camp up north. Those of our friends brave -- or tipsy -- enough to be out looking for action, said our party was practically the only sign of life in East Beirut. Considering the noise carried for blocks, we were lucky a Fatah al Islam sleeper cell didn't crash the event.

It may seem callous to be partying while the Palestinian camp at Nahr al Bared burns. But those of us who are journalists had rushed up there yesterday as soon as we heard that the Lebanese army had resumed its assault on Fatah al Islam. There was little we could do. The jumpy Lebanese troops at the edge of the siege prevented anyone from getting near the camp. They cleared out all the televsion cameras from buildings overlooking the battlefield, and fired warning shots in the air to prevent photographers from taking pictures.

No doubt this was for the safety of the soldiers and for our own good. The Lebanese army is scared. They are facing well-trained terrorists willing to fight and die in the ultimate urban warfare environment. Palestinian camps -- built up over nearly sixty years -- are dense concrete hives of overcrowded buildings and narrow streets.

As if that isn't horrible enough, there are still some 5,000 Palestinian civilians holed up in Nahr el Bared, who are too stupid, too poor, or too afraid to leave. Many of them are convinced that the Lebanese government is using the militants as an excuse to destroy the camp and rid themselves of the pesky Palestinian refugee problem. The bloody history of relations between Lebanese and Palestinians -- and the paranoia that builds up when families have lived in refugee camps without basic civil rights for three generations -- has made many of them more afraid of the Lebanese government than of foreign militants. One refugee told me that the battle was part of a deal between the Lebanese government and the American military to build an air force base on Nahr al Bared.

Conspiracy theories aside, I myself couldn't help wondering whether or not the Lebanese government would be going into the camp guns blazing if there were Lebanese civilians inside. While we wait for the smoke to clear, and while we wait to finally get inside the camp, many of us are wondering how bloody the battle for Nahr al Bared will end up being.

Palestinian refugees leaving Nahr al Bared last week.

--Andrew Lee Butters/Beirut