Lebanon celebrated its 62nd national Army Day on Wednesday amid ongoing clashes between Lebanese troops and Islamist militants at the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp which claimed the lives of two soldiers, according to dpa. Army Day, normally marked by celebrations and events in barracks across the country, passed with no festivities due to the 10-week-old battle with the Fatah al-Islam militant group. The latest casualties bring to 125 the number of soldiers killed since the fighting broke out May 20. Many Lebanese had hoped that Army Day would be marked by a military announcement that the army had finally defeated Fatah al- Islam, and that the fighting had ceased. However it was not to be. Security sources said the army's advance into the devastated camp, located outside the northern port city of Tripoli, has been held up by fierce resistance from the militants, who have planted sophisticated mines and booby traps around their remaining positions. Sources said at least 60 gunmen of various Arab nationalities remain holed up inside the camp and are determined to fight until death. More than 85 Fatah al-Islam fighters and at least 41 civilians have also been killed in the clashes, while 65 militants have been detained and charged with terrorism. Fatah al-Islam, a breakaway faction from the Syrian-backed Fatah Uprising group, has Lebanese, Palestinians and other Arabs in its ranks, including some who have fought in Iraq. It says it supports al-Qaeda's ideology, but has no direct links with it. Lebanon's Army Day is also being celebrated this year amid deep political divisions in the country and fears that the country might be heading towards a new civil war. The Hezbollah-led opposition has been campaigning since December 1 with street protests and sit-ins outside Prime Minister Fouad Seniora's office in downtown Beirut to try to force him to resign, or to join a national unity cabinet that would give the opposition veto power. Seniora, backed by the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority and the United States, has rejected the opposition's demand.
