BEIRUT — Well, the sit­u­a­tion up north has set­tled into a stand­off, despite a bout of gun­fire on Mon­day. The var­i­ous Pales­tin­ian fac­tions are try­ing to nego­ti­ate an end to this cri­sis, and the Lebanese gov­ern­ment has given them time to get the job done. But while sev­eral politi­cians, such as Druze leader Walid Jum­blatt, have said the mil­i­tary option is off the table, we may very well see more vio­lence before this is over. Lebanon sim­ply can’t allow these guys to walk away, as I’ve men­tioned before.
The group con­tin­ues to refuse to hand over any of its fight­ers. “This is impos­si­ble,” said Fatah al-Islam spokesman Abu Salim Taha via tele­phone from inside Nahr el-Bared.
I’ll be head­ing back up, prob­a­bly Tues­day, to mon­i­tor the sit­u­a­tion. In the mean­time, here are some of the sto­ries I filed over the last week:
* Lebanon, Syria Point Fin­gers in Recent Vio­lence (Wash­ing­ton Times)
* Lebanese army assault cheered, but raises fears (San Fran­cisco Chron­i­cle)
* Bod­ies pil­ing up in assault on camp (San Fran­cisco Chron­i­cle)
Another one on the for­eign fight­ers in Fatah al-Islam is due out tomor­row morn­ing.
*UPDATE 5÷30÷07 2:13:53 AM:* And here it is! Sorry for the delay. Been busy here tak­ing care of daily life that got put on hold while the North caught fire. Right now, things are more or less quiet, with the occa­sional exchange of fire. We’ll see how long it holds.