NAHR Al-BARED, Lebanon, 3 September 2007 — Lebanese troops seized control yesterday of a Palestinian refugee camp from die-hard Islamists, achieving what Prime Minister Fouad Siniora called their “biggest victory over terrorists.”

Following a siege of more than three months, Nahr Al-Bared fell to a mass assault after troops killed at least 37 militants making a desperate pre-dawn attempt to break the siege, army and security sources said.

An army source told AFP that the Palestinian head of Fatah Al-Islam, Shaker Al-Abbasi, was among the dead and that his body had been identified.

“The body of Shaker Al-Abbasi is among the corpses of Islamists taken to the state-run hospital in Tripoli,” said the source, who did not wish to be identified.

Another 15 Fatah Al-Islam fighters were captured, some of whom managed to reach nearby villages before being caught in the manhunt as troops searched roofs and nearby fields.

A security source added that nine wounded militants were evacuated by the army after they were found in underground shelters in the ruined camp. More than 220 people, including 158 Lebanese troops, were killed during the standoff which started on May 20 near the sprawling camp outside the northern city of Tripoli. Three soldiers died in yesterday’s fighting.

In a televised speech to the nation, Siniora said: “You (the army) have achieved at Nahr Al-Bared the country’s biggest victory over terrorists.” He pledged that the Lebanese government would rebuild Nahr Al-Bared, but said that the camp would be placed under the authority of the state and “only the Lebanese state.”

During a visit to Tehran, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem congratulated Lebanon’s “army on winning this fight against a terrorist group which distracted the Lebanese Army from their enemy Israel.”

Muallem also reaffirmed Damascus’ vehement denial that it had any link to Fatah Al-Islam. “This is rejected,” he said. Thousands of people converged on Nah Al-Bared after news broke in the late afternoon that the army had overrun the camp, as troops fired celebratory volleys into the air and flashed the “V” for victory sign. Amina Sakr, a local resident who was carrying a child and was accompanied by about 25 members of her family, hailed the courage of the soldiers and their sacrifice.

“This marks a victory for Lebanon because we got rid of this gang of criminals which destroyed our houses, our businesses and our lives,” she told AFP. The army said the final assault on Nahr Al-Bared began at about 3.30 a.m. after the militants attempted to break out on three fronts, including by sea, but most were killed or captured.

“What they did today was launch a suicidal operation in a desperate bid to flee,” an army spokesman said.

He said it was unclear what had happened to the spokesman for the militants linked ideologically to Osama Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda, Abu Salim Taha, who had sought the evacuation of the wounded from the camp last week.