“Progressive vanguard”

Too violent even for the PLO, the PFLP (revolutionary Palestinian Marxists) in Lebanon are still armed and take pot shots at Lebanese soldiers at the behest of Syria. One more dead this week. The last one they capped (for no reason) was an Army topographic surveyor just doing his job.

The Syrians don’t particularly care for them being in their country, so it explains why they’re so big on keeping them paid off in Lebanon.

A Lebanese soldier has died from wounds sustained during clashes with Palestinian guerrillas in eastern Lebanon two days ago, Lebanese army sources said Friday.

Two soldiers and one militant were injured in the clashes and a Lebanese soldier was briefly kidnapped by the pro-Syrian gunmen.

On Thursday, Fatah Uprising militants smuggled reinforcements from Syria into eastern Lebanon, Lebanese security sources said.

'Fifteen military trucks smuggled the reinforcements during the night through a valley in eastern Lebanon,' Lebanese police said.

The Lebanese army also sent reinforcements to the area, deploying about 150 commando troops backed by at least 15 armoured vehicles, a Lebanese army source told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Both Fatah Uprising and the Damascus-based Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC), led by hardline leader Ahmed Jebril, maintain bases in eastern Lebanon.

There are some 367,000 Palestinian refugees sheltered in 12 camps across Lebanon, but only pro-Syrian Palestinian groups maintain military positions outside these camps.

The fuse is lit!