JUST OUTSIDE NAHR EL-BARED REFUGEE CAMP -- Just at the edge of this now devastated refugee camp, the Lebanese Army is showing signs of preparing for a showdown with the Fatah al-Islam jihadist group.
Trucks full of ammunition have been seen rumbling north on the road from Tripoli toward the camp. Many of the Palestinian refugees who are able to leave have left, leaving fewer civilian targets to be hit -- although the toll on that end is already crushingly high, too high for a people who have seen nothing but pain and hardship since 1948.
Since 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, an informal truce has held between the militants still holed up in the camp and the Lebanese army, but Fatah al-Islam has vowed to fight "until the last drop of blood" (usually a sign that they're getting close to the last drop) and the Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr told al-Arabiya television: "Preparations are seriously under way to end the matter. The army will not negotiate with a group of terrorists and criminals. Their fate is arrest, and if they resist the army, death."
At the moment, it's still quiet up here. But it's unclear how long that will last.
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