To the Last Man, Woman, and Child: Nahr al-Bared

It is slow work clearing buildings and deactivating bombs.

It seems long ago now that the whirring of shells and the flash and blast and clouds of debris drifting across a city under repeated shelling has given way to the creeping forward of armored vehicles and troops methodically clearing buildings, detecting and neutralizing booby traps and mines, and clearing off snipers.

Methodical and patient methods have been the hallmark of the Lebanese army's campaign against Fatah al-Islam at Nahr al-Bared.

Prensa Latina reports from military sources the cordon as drawn down to 161,468 square feet of territory denied [1].

According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), Nahr al-Bared got its start in 1949 through the League of Red Cross Societies [2].  Never an entirely wholesome place in terms of either its political or functional infrastructure, it nonetheless provided a good many services to its people, including the provision of a health clinic, a progressive counseling center for women--"One community managed women's programme centre that runs skill-training courses and apprenticeship, organizes awareness raising sessions on health, social, legal, human rights and gender issues and coordinates with local NGOs to respond to community needs. Income generation loans and group guaranteed lending are also provided to women"--a youth center, and other constructive NGO-type activities.

With Fatah al-Islam's opening gambit--reportedly a string of bank robberies inviting a police raid against a "safe house" outside the camp--Nahr al-Bared started its transformation into an abandoned and unholy city, a model war zone for sniping and shelling, scrounging and hiding, bluffing and boasting, living wired on Kalashnikov fire, and dying amid rubble in tatters and pools of blood.

# # #

---

1. "Lebanon Army Advances on Nahar al Bared."  Prensa Latina, July 30, 2007.

2. "Nahr al-Bared Refugee Camp."  United Nations Relief and Works Agency, 2003.

---

Correspondence and Permissions: James S. Oppenheim

---