Speaker A
Al Islam Commander is giving an exclusive interview to Al Jazeera. His group's been battling Lebanese soldiers in Tripoli for the past four days, a fight he says is being orchestrated by the United States. There are many scenarios that we have prepared. We hope that we don't get to a higher phase of escalation. We understand that the Army was dragged into this fight by a third party within the Lebanese government. This third party is working to implement an American plan. The Lebanese Army says they came to protect the Lebanese soil and citizens, but we see that certain parties within the Lebanese Army are involved in working to serve this American project. Our camera then went further into Nahr al-Bared Camp to find scenes of utter devastation: burning buildings, homes that have been destroyed, injured and confused people. Two tank shells destroyed our houses. Two tanks did it. The walls were smashed. On the road outside the Tripoli Camp, which is home to more than 40,000 Palestinian refugees, people are trying to escape the violence. Imagine it: everything is destroyed. There's nothing, no food, no water, and this is why there's no water or electricity. After four days of fighting between Lebanese soldiers and Fatah al-Islam fighters, parts of the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian Camp have been laid to waste. In Egypt, the European Union foreign policy chief and the head of the Arab League have expressed support for the Lebanese government in its ongoing crisis, but no one seems able to speak for the refugees themselves. They wander aimlessly along, unsure where to go or what to do next. Many in authority in Lebanon blame Syria for the latest outbreak of violence. As you know, in each and every refugee camp in Lebanon, there exists a small group affiliated with the Syrian intelligence, sometimes called the Syrian Palestinian groups. And as soon as the Army started to pursue Fatah al-Islam, the Syrian-affiliated group within the camp started to provoke the Palestinian public opinion against the Lebanese Army. This has been the worst internal violence since the civil war of the 1970s and 80s in Lebanon. The worry is it will spread, creating yet more misery for people like this. John Terret, Al Jazeera.
