By Xinhua
Beirut : Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Seniora declared victory on Sunday night after the army seized control of a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon.
The army had achieved “the country’s biggest and historic victory over terrorists” the largely devastated Nahr al-Bared camp, some 12 km north of the Lebanese city of Tripoli, Seniora said in a televised address to the nation.
He said the war, which erupted on May 20, was fought against “terrorists” in the camp not against Palestinians or Islam.
The months long war was “a joint Lebanese-Palestinian battle against terrorists — and this victory was a common one,” Seniora said, adding that “we’re committed to Palestinians and we’ll standby you in rebuilding (the destroyed camp).”
Seniora said the reconstruction would comprise the camp and Lebanese neighborhoods which were devastated or damaged during the battle.
But he also stressed that the rebuilded Nahr al-Bared camp would be placed under the authority of the Lebanese state. Earlier in the day, the Lebanese army totally took control of Nahr al-Bared after fighting the Fatah al-Islam militants holed up there for over three months.
It was the bloodiest internal violence since the Lebanese 1975-1990 civil war, and more than 300 people had been killed during fighting.