Are We Winning?

As of today, the battle between the Lebanese army and the terrorists of Fateh Al Islam in the camp of Naher al Bared in the North has taken its toll. The Lebanese Army has been fighting this battle on 3 fronts, the first is a media war and the second is a military campaign, and the third is an intelligence campaign.

On the first front, the Lebanese army and government seem to have the upper hand, especially that the foe does not have any access to any media outlet, and any group that feels any sympathy to the terrorists will not risk making any statement especially since the whole of Lebanon has voiced unity behind the army operations. The only ones who came close are a group by the name of "Jund al Sham" in the camp of "Ain el Helweh" near Saida, and even had some skirmishes with the Lebanese Army, before they were withdrawn and silenced by the Palestinian factions inside the camp. At this point, no other Palestinian camp can risk what is going on in Naher el Bared, since the Army's swift retaliation to the minor attacks by Jund al Sham was quick and precise, and sent a very clear message: "Don't even think of messing with us at this point".

Naher El Bared Camp (Ref:Google Maps)

On the other hand, the military battle in Naher el Bared seems to be nearing its end. But the number of casualties seem to indicate otherwise. So far, with today's recent casualty, the army has lost 49 soldiers in this battle, 17 of which were ambushed at the beginning of this fight, and whose death was the fuse that triggered this whole operation. The casualties of Fateh al Islam has been reported to be 38. These numbers show that the level of training of these terrorists ravels that of the training of the Lebanese Army, except, that the Lebanese Army is exercising restraint, because the terrorists are hiding amongst civilians.

On the intelligence front, the Army has had much eye opening information about the members and the plans of this group so far, plans such as "blowing up the tunnel of Shekka", and "establishing an Islamic state in Tripoli". The army gathering specific information such as a certain member receiving a gun as a gift, shows the level of detail that has been found out so far. On top of that, the army has found and diffused booby trapped cars, arrested dormant cells, captured terrorists planting bombs, members that have been establishing links between Fateh Al Islam and Al Qaida in Iraq, and interrogated members of the group receiving very valuable information regarding the extent of their operations, which led to more arrests.

Time of importance in brining this battle to a plausible end.