The Lebanese government offered a final chance for a peaceful end to the army's siege of Islamists in a refugee camp as sniper fire stopped all but a few dozen of the thousands of civilians trapped inside from fleeing on Saturday.
Washington confirmed it was rushing military supplies to the Lebanese army but the Lebanese opposition warned the government against getting involved in a US-backed war against the al Qaeda-inspired fighters of fringe Palestinian militant group Fatah al-Islam.
Relief agencies expressed growing concern for the 10,000 or so civilians still inside the Nahr al-Bared camp outside Lebanon's second city of Tripoli whom the army has said are being used as "human shields" by the militants.
As a fragile truce unilaterally declared by the militants on Tuesday largely held, Defence Minister Elias Murr said talks were under way to try to reach a negotiated end to the siege.
"We are now giving a chance for political negotiations," he told reporters late on Friday. But he added: "If the political negotiations fail, I will leave it up to the army command to carry out the required actions." Murr did not specify who was brokering the talks but reports said mainstream Palestinian factions were trying to break the deadlock for fear of the impact that an all-out offensive against the camp would have on Palestinian civilians.
By longstanding convention, the army does not enter Lebanon's 12 refugee camps, leaving security inside to the Palestinian factions. Previously, Murr had ruled out any negotiations to end the clashes, which have killed 78 people, 33 of them Lebanese soldiers, in the worst internal strife since the 1975-90 civil war.
As Washington promised strong support for the Beirut government, the US Congress approved 280 million dollars in military aid for 2007, seven times more than the 40 million dollars granted last year. Even before Thursday's vote, Washington confirmed that it was already rushing military supplies to the Lebanese army both directly and through Western allies in the region.
"In light of events in Tripoli and urgent requests from the government of Lebanon, we are expediting deliveries of planned US military assistance to the Lebanese armed forces, as well as enlisting the support of international partners to provide additional assistance," said State Department spokesman David Foley.
But Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who leads the Lebanese opposition, warned the Western-backed government of Prime Minister Fuad Siniora against being drawn into making the siege of the Fatah al-Islam fighters a new front in Washington's world-wide war against terror.
"We should not enter Lebanon into the American ... war on terrorism," said Nasrallah, whose Shiite militant group led last summer's devastating war with Israel. For a second straight day on Saturday, sniper fire prevented all but a few dozen civilians still trapped inside the camp from joining the exodus that saw thousands flee earlier in the week.
"We put the women and children in front of us, so they (the Fatah al-Islam fighters) wouldn't shoot at us," said Kassem Rabih, 50, who escaped in a group of some 40 civilians. The UN children's agency UNICEF called on all sides to protect the civilians trapped by the fighting, including children it said had been through "unspeakable trauma."
Government supporters have blamed neighbouring Syria for the violence, accusing it of seeking to derail efforts to establish an international court to try suspects in the 2005 murder of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri, in which Syrian officials have been implicated. But Damascus denies any links either to Fatah al-Islam or to Hariri's assassination.
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