Communicating Arts - Main Web SiteLebanon's once beleaguered army has found victory at Nahr al-Bared, the Palestinian camp that developed into a built urban complex for close to 31,000 residents, and which, toward this ignominious end, became a base for the Salafist band, Fatah al-Islam, and it has been killing and dying with its victory for better than a month.
Armies want decision, of course; guerrilla forces far prefer to never say die--and then to go on and die in battle in lieu of that.
With the application of modern military systems, especially aerial bombardment, there may not be much battle at all for those whose positions become "kill zones" in which they're restricted to waiting for "death from above".
The partial principal in warfare: the larger, more powerful army always wins. Eventually.
Michael Bluhm's piece in The Daily Star quotes Retired Lebanese General Elias Hanna as saying, "This final phase of the battle, rooting out the estimated 70 remaining Fatah al-Islam militants from their 1.5 square kilometers of territory, is the "hardest part" of the operation and will take at least two more weeks."
Bluhm's piece concerns itself with the allied arming of the Lebanese army to more effectively combat the Fatah al-Islam beach head, which is a story that will take on depth as the army's Commanding General Michel Suleiman's political stance picks up its share of the spotlight, but he also mentions the difficulty posed by urban warfare to an inexperienced force faced with a well armed, determined, and thinking opponent.
The Lebanese army has encountered in its rolling into Nahr al-Bared all the surprises: sniper fire, booby traps, land mines, rockets. It also has had to contend with concerns for the children arbitrarily involved in the war zone.
At the beginning and end of the day, dropping bombs from helicopters keeps the work moving forward while also reducing troop exposure on the ground and neutralizing personal responsibility for much of the remaining carnage.
1. Bluhm, Michael. "Helicopters bomb underground bunkers at Nahr al-Bared." The Daily Star, August 17, 2007.
Correspondence and Permissions: James S. Oppenheim
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