Naher el Bared Islamist detainees questioning to start on Friday

               
President of the Judicial Council Judge Jean Fahd set Friday a date to start preliminary interrogations of Islamist detainees in the case of  the Nahr el-Bared incidents paving the way to start trials before the Council.                 

On May 19, 2007, the Lebanese Internal Security Forces (ISF) surrounded a group of Fatah al-Islam militants accused of taking part in a bank robbery earlier that day. The ISF attacked the building the next day, unleashing a day long battle between the ISF and Fatah al-Islam militants on 200 Street, Tripoli. As a response, members of Fatah al-Islam in Nahr al-Bared Camp attacked an army checkpoint, killing several soldiers in their sleep. The army immediately responded.            

The camp became the center of the fighting between the Lebanese Army and Fatah al-Islam. It sustained heavy shelling while under siege. The last civilians (25 women and 38 children, the families of Fatah al-Islam members) were evacuated from the camp on Friday August 24, 2007.             

The conflict between the Lebanese Army and Fatah al-Islam ended on Sunday September 2, 2007 with the Lebanese Army taking full control of the camp after eliminating the remaining terrorist pockets.            

168 Lebanese army soldiers and 226 militants were killed in the 105 day conflict. Between 400 and 500 soldiers had been wounded and more than 215 militants had been captured.